Year 3 Chefs!

After being fabulous gardeners at Mrs Larder's allotment, we needed to find a way to use the lovely raspberries which we picked from her fruit trees.

Our Macmillan Coffee Morning gave us the perfect opportunity!

We used the raspberries to make some delicious white chocolate and raspberry muffins to sell for the coffee morning. (We also made some scrummy chocolate cornflake cakes too!).



Unfortunately, we weren't able to taste the muffins, because they we so tasty, they sold out really quickly! However, we didn't worry too much because we had our own sponge cakes on the coffee morning which we were allowed to decorate with icing and a variety of sprinkles! It was lots of messy, tasty fun! But more importantly, we raised lots of money for Macmillan too.

Year 3 Gardeners!

Year 3 have been very bust since the beginning of term!

As part of our topic this half term, we have been learning about plants. We know what each different part of the plant does, and are beginning to understand what we need to do to keep plants growing healthily.

Mrs Larder helped us with this, because last week we walked to her allotment. She told us all about the different plants, vegetables and fruit that she grows there, and we were allowed to pick some raspberries, apples and runner beans. Then, we completed a quiz! Mrs Larder had labelled all of her plants with numbers, and we had to match them up with the plants on our sheet.



When we got back to school, we used what we learned about how to look after plants in order to grow our own seeds.

We have been growing runner bean seeds. We made sure we planted them well in soil and watered them regularly.



A week later, and haven't they grown! We have been keeping a diary of their progress and the last time we looked, some of our beans had grown more than 20cm! We are now keeping them close to the window, because we have learned that plants' leaves use sunglight to make food.

Year 5 at the Southampton Boat Show

Year 5 had a fantastic day at the Southampton Boat Show today!

All sorts of boats and anything to do with boats were on display, so we went on working boats, pleasure boats, safety boats and luxury boats, big boats and small boats!

We had a tour of the RV Callista, which is a research vessel operated by the National Oceanography Centre right here in Southampton. We loved the infra-red camera which showed temperature rather than colour - they use that camera deep in the sea to show the temperatures creatures live in.

We also learned about the RNLI and the fact that they get no government funding to save lives around our coasts.



The luxury Sunseeker and Princess luxury yachts were amazing and so new and clean that we had to wear special overshoes on our feet to stop the dirt getting in. The one we liked best cost about £12 million... perhaps we'll get two!

We also got chance for lots of fun and games at the Calshot Stage Show, Heart FM, the GirlGuiding Rowing Machine and the University of Southampton, where we got helium balloons, played games and drew pirates... "Shiver me timbers, you salty old sea dogs!"

Rock'n'roll

4MM were lucky to be the first class to sample rock'n'roll dancing with dance teacher Hayley Warman-Johnston.
Every class will get to try out this fun dancing style before Christmas.

Sainsburys vouchers have funded this fantastic opportunity so thanks to everyone for collecting so many!

Enjoy your rock'n'rolling!!

Home at last!

My time in Canada has come to an end - just in time for me to return to school tomorrow morning!

The last stop on my trip was Vancouver...



...which is a large city on the west coast of Canada. Like many North American cities, it is full of skyscraper buildings:



Vancouver has one of largest city parks in the whole continent, called Stanley Park. It is a great place to spot more wildlife like the Canada Goose and grey (but really black!) squirrel below:





Stanley Park also celebrates Native American culture, as you can see from the totem poles exhibit here:



It has been an eventful summer, but I am refreshed and ready to start the new term. Hope you all are too!

See you tomorrow!

Furry Friends!

Hello again!

I have travelled nearly 200 miles along the "Icefields Parkway" and have arrived in Jasper. The roadside had some stunning views. Here I am at Peyto Lake (I had to climb a really steep hill to get here!):



This is the Columbia Icefield. It is a large area of ice wedged between two mountains. The ice here is as deep as the Eiffel Tower (in Paris) is tall!



During my travels through the Rockies, I have met many of my Canadian cousins. It was great to see them, even if they are much bigger than me!



However, it was the real wildlife that was the most exciting. The Rockies is home to lots of beautiful, wild animals - and some of them are quite scary! In the photos below, you will see a mule deer (can you work out why it's named after a mule?), red squirrel, beavers, mountain goats and a beautiful stag.



If you look REALLY closely, you will see a coyote in this photo. (Sorry it's very far away, but it wasn't safe to get much closer!)



The highlight of my trip was seeing some real bears! This is a photo of a black bear (from behind!)...



...and this is a grizzly bear!



These bears are a very important part of the environment in this part of Canada, and must be treated with great respect.

Well, my time in the Rockies has come to an end. Now I am boarding a train which will take 18 hours to reach Vancouver, which is a big city on the west coast of Canada. Speak to you soon!

Hello from Canada!

I travelled 9 hours on a plane in order to get to Calgary, which is in Western Canada. It's the gateway to the Canadian Rockies - a massive area which is surrounded by lots of mountains.

I started off in a little town called Banff, which is a ski resort in the winter. It is also the name of a National Park, which means that the area is very special and beautiful, so has to be protected. I went on some great walks - here is a picture of me next to Lake Louise...

...and here I am at Emerald Lake:

The water in these lakes is always incredibly blue, no matter what the weather. If you can find out why, leave a comment at the end of the blog and the first person to get the correct answer will win a prize!

I also let my adventurous side out on my holiday. I walked along the side of Johnstone Canyon and even went tree climbing!

I'm now on my way to another little town called Jasper. I have to drive nearly 200 miles along a stretch of road called the "Icefields Parkway" to get there, so keep looking on the blog for my next instalment!