Electricity Project

In year  4 we have started a mini project about electricity.  So far we have made  a simple circuit using a battery, wires, a bulb holder and a bulb. In the second session we looked at switches. A switch is used to turn electrical appliances on and off. They work by opening and closing circuits. We worked in groups to make simple switches using butterfly clips, paper clips and card. We have really enjoyed these practical sessions. 

OUR BOOK FAIR AND AN ENGLISH LIBRARY SESSION

Last week we had the English Book Fair at school. All the classes visited the Fair in the morning. Ruth and Justin told us stories and poems. In Year 4 they told us the poem "Mister Magnolia" with lots of rhyming words. 

In the afternoon families and teachers from other schools were invited to visit the Fair. 

Also last week we celebrated an evening English library session (we call them Bibliotardes). Some children from year 1 to year 5 had prepared poems, songs, chants and plays. It was a nice evening!

Ruth and Justin representing the poem "Mister Magnolia"

 These are students in year 4 reciting the poem  " Read to me"

Some children in year 2 did the play "The turnip soup"

Clay plaques

In year 4 as part of our Project about animals we have made these beautiful plaques using clay.

We make English Scones

One of the highlights of the second term was making English Scones. This was part of our Project about food.

Celebrating Book Day

In Spain, schools celebrate Book Day on 23rd April. We usually have special events around this date.

Today, years 3 and 4 had the chance to get a special visit, a writer came to our library and she told us about her book, which most of us had read before. 

She answered our questions about the book and the story. 

We were excited because it was the first time we could talk to a real author.

At the end of the session she signed our books.


It has been a good start of the celebration of Book Day!

End of the second term

We started our Easter holidays last Friday 27th March. We have some routines for the last week. We write a report and remember the things we have done during the term, we   get our marks and  some diplomas (spelling diplomas...). 

This year, to celebrate the end of the second term we brought some musical instruments to school and had a nice time with our school mates. Some of us also told some jokes.

We'll go back to school and will start the last term on 7th April. Happy Easter! 

Videoconference with Pilton Bluecoat Jr. School

Last week (26th, 27th February) classes 4A and 4B  had a videoconference with two classes in Pilton Bluecoat Jr. School (Barnstaple, England) using Skype.
The main topic of our videoconference was food, the topic we have just finished in Science.

Before the day of the videoconference we had prepared 10 questions  and sent them by email. 

They also sent 10 questions to us and we answered them in class.

Some of the questions we asked were: "Do you know any Spanish foods?", "Do you have lunch at school?" "What time do you have your meals?", etc.

We have learnt that some traditional English foods are fish and chips, bangers and mash, which is sausages and mashed potatoes, roast turkey with gravy, stuffing balls and vegetables,...

We have some things in common, some children have breakfast at the same time, here in Segovia and in Barnstaple, our favourite foods (pasta,...), we like cooking and we have some differences too, especially the times of the meals.

We think this activity is very good to learn from other cultures, also for our English though the sound wasn't perfect and the students in Pilton Bluecoat spoke a bit fast, but that's probably because they were as nervous as we were. Next time we'll speak slowly. 

Peace Day Joint Mural

And here you are, the final masterpiece in the main hall:

The explanation of the work in English and Spanish on both sides of the mural: 

The Kandinsky circles are displayed in different places in the school: classroom doors, corridors...as a reminder of their meaning. We hope you like our work! 

Joint Mural for Peace Day- Kandinsky Art

Next week on the 30th of January 'El día de la Paz'-Peace day will be celebrated in schools across Spain. As part of this special day we are going to create a joint mural involving every student and teacher from primary 1 to 6. 

The inspiration for our work comes from the Russian painter Kandinsky. We have focused on his famous paintings featuring squares with concentric circles.

Each student will produce one square, which on its own can be beautiful,but when put together with the rest will hopefully produce a real work of art- thus proving that when we work together our results are stronger, brighter 

and bolder.

 A real result of cooperation.

 We used oil pastels to create our squares. We glazed them with white glue.

Our Christmas Holidays

As part of our Literacy work, after the Christmas holidays we have written about how we spent them. We know that there are many different traditions all over the world and we have been learning about how Christmas is celebrated in England, using a book we got from a partner school we worked with a few years ago.

Although there are a few typical Christmas traditions in Spain, each family has their own' s.

You can learn about some of them here. We would also like to hear from yours.

Back to school- New Year's Resolutions

When we go back to school in January we usually think about  our New Year's resolutions, a tradition children and adults make for the new year.  They can be something to do with ourselves, our family, our friends or our work and behaviour at school. We sometimes choose and write something for each category. Some resolutions we make are: make an effort and improve our handwriting, be kind to our partners, play with everybody in the playground, etc.
 We also remember the Promise to do our best we made in September . This is the poem we have done this year and we have displayed in the classroom so we don't forget. 
Do you also make promises for the new year? 

School Day of Non-violence and Peace

School Day of Non-violence and Peace is celebrated in Spanish schools on 30th January,  on the anniversary  of Mahatma Gandhi's death.

We think Peace is something we should promote and give importance to not only once a year but everyday. 

For Peace Day we usually do special activities throughout the school such us mandalas, stories, poems, dances, songs, Art work.We also celebrate assemblies, get together in the playground and sing some songs or dance together.  We are preparing this year's celebration and will let you know about it. These are some of the things we did last year.
Do you celebrate celebrate Peace Day in your country,  and if so, when?

My food diary

At school we have a diningroom where lunch is cooked everyday and quite a lot of students have lunch at school after the lessons (14:00-16:00). There are also lots of students who go home for lunch. In Spain we usually have lunch when school finishes. 

This is our school menu for January.  We have translated the menu for this week.

As a part of our work in Science (in English), in Year 4 we will keep a record of the food we eat in a week and we will think if it's adequate, balanced and complete because we will learn about healthy diets.

Monday 19th : Rice with  tomato sauce + sausages and french fries + fruit

Tuesday 20th: Beans + stuffed eggs + fruit

Wednesday 21st: Potatoes with ribs + fish with salad + fruit

Thursday 22nd : "cocido" (chickpeas stew) + yoghurt

Friday 23th: pasta carbonara + fish and salad + fruit

This is a typical Spanish winter food, cocido, a kind of stew with chickpeas, carrots, meat, etc...It's usually served with a noodle soup first. Children usually like it.

End of year Race

Happy New year everybody! We're back to school and the routine of the second term. Today we have snow in Segovia but not too much!
We want to tell you about some traditions and things we have done since the last time we posted on this blog. We'll start with a special race in our town:

Many Spanish towns and cities hold the "San Silvestre" race each year on New Year' s Eve. In Segovia this road race is now called "End of year race". There are different categories, children and adults participate. From the school we promote the participation of our students in this race and lots of children take part. This year it was cold but warmer than previous ones because it was sunny. Some  adult runners wear costumes like for Carnival. 

The Town Hall rewards this participation and the school gets some money to spend on sport supplies.

Merry Christmas

The last day of the term (this year 19th December), the 4 classes of year 3 and 4 usually meet  and spend the last lessons together. We sing Spanish and English carols, we say poems, we dance...

We will go back to school on 8th January. We wish you a Merry Christmas and the best for the New Year. 

Class 4A sang the long carol "The twelve days of Christmas" ( you can see a tree with the elements of the song behind us)

Some children danced  "Autumn harvest".

Class 4B sang "Jingle bell Rock" and other Spanish carols. 

Before leaving we all sang the  "Feliz Navidad, Merry Christmas" carol by Celine Dion our friends in Sweden told us about. 

After school club: percussion.

At school there are lots of different after school clubs, from gardening to chess, from sports to painting. However in class 4B our favourite without a doubt is the percussion group. It is lead by our superb teacher Ronnie who brings his great rythmns all the way from Brazil. We hope you enjoy listening to us play.

We would also like to know what clubs you have at your schools. We look forward to hearing from you.

And here is Paula in the percussion group playing her castanets:

Nice weekend. Bra helg. Buen fin de semana.

From class 4B - El Peñascal

Our English classroom library

One of the activities we do in English is to read a small book every week. We have the books in our classroom. We usually take the book on Thursday, we read it at home and we give it back to school the following Tuesday. Sometimes we write or we draw pictures about this book in a little notebook. You can see some examples in these pictures: 

From class 4B - El Peñascal