Peer Critique: Ascending the Amazon!

By K Poncia20th June 2019

So, today in HUMAN, 7Explorer have been deepening their knowledge and understanding about the Amazon Rainforest and the flora and fauna found within each layer.  Then, along with their senses, they have created a piece of descriptive writing, capturing what their journey might be like as they travel from the forest floor to the emergent layer.

Image result for rainforest layers

The quality of students’ writing was excellent!  Look at some of the sentences students identified as having the ‘WOW’ factor.

Ruby:

‘All of a sudden, the cool rays of exhausted sunlight penetrated the vibrant, green, detailed foliage and stroked my skin.’

Billy:

‘The orchids stand out in the rainforest, adding a florescent and vibrant aspect to this colourful creation.’

Callum:

‘Stridulating crickets fill the rainforest with their loud song which stretches deep into the Amazon’.

Students then went on to critique each others’ work, commenting on ‘What Went Well’ and ‘Even Better If…’  Students were also eager to grade their work.

Take a look at the focus of Marshall, Sami and Ruben as they read each others’ work, write their critique and then share out.  Absolutely wonderful!

E25 / Y7 Spanish students return to adjectival agreements

By D Pearson19th June 2019

Following study of the near future tense to conclude their work on pastimes last week, our E25 Spanish students considered how, when and why adjectives change their spellings according to gender of nouns in their sessions this week. It can prove to be a challenging concept for language learners to grasp, but core grammatical rules such as this are tested with academic rigour at GCSE level.

I am delighted with how our younger students are able to recognise and articulate terms such as cognates, adjectival agreements and feminine nouns, whilst observing the correct word order in a foreign language……in truth they are beginning to think in Spanish!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees.’ – E25’s HUMAN Final Product

By H Hickson19th June 2019

E25’s final HUMAN expedition is called ‘Three Cheers for Trees’.

For our final product we will be creating a piece of graffiti artwork which encompasses the messages and learning of this expedition. For example, deforestation, the rainforest and the importance of trees in our environment due to the services they provide.

The artwork will be on a wall in our school (cheers Gywn!) and every child in E25 will make their mark in the product.  The inspiration for the final product came from our anchor text – Dr Seuss’s The Lorax. We watched this film during Immersion Week and saw the mural dedicated to the trees which are loved so dearly. I’m sure ours will look even better! Related image

So that we could create beautiful work we are very pleased to be working alongside an expert, Craig, who has been running design and practical sessions with the students to create the image and build technique with the spray paints. The first group to experience the practical session was E2 and it’s safe to say they had a great time!

I think the students found that using spray paints is harder than it looks – Craig was able to explain to the group how the paint would react differently when sprayed close/far away from the surface and the difference in the outcome when spraying quickly and slowly. The students responded well to his advice and they were clearly writing their names in no time, he was very impressed!

 

E1 and E3 will have their practical sessions on Monday 24th June. It is advised they come to school in clothes they do not mind getting paint on as it is permanent – just in case!

Preparing for Student Led Conferences in Crew Ali

By J Townson19th June 2019

Crew Ali have spent much of their Crew time over the last couple of weeks reviewing their progress, monitoring targets and selecting pieces of work to share with their parents and carers in their Student Led Conferences (SLCs) at the end of the month.  This involves a great deal of self-reflection and an opportunity to share successes and challenges with a wider audience, as well as set themselves action plans to ensure they hit the ground running as they start Year 8.

Some students have pledged to ‘get their head down’, whilst others are celebrating smashing their Minimum Expected Grades (MEGs).  In all cases, they have to plan what they will say, produce notes or slide shows to support their delivery and ensure they can speak articulately and confidently about their learning.

As their Crew Leader, I’ll be right there with them to support and critique.  We are really fortunate at XP East that parents are so involved and supportive of our students, and I look forward to seeing our parents and having a chance to catch up face-to-face too.  Keep it up Crew Ali, one week to go until the SLCs begin!

Three Cheers for Trees!

By K Poncia12th June 2019

E25 have started their final expedition of Year 7 which is entitled ‘Three Cheers for Trees!’

At the end of immersion week, students were introduced to the name of the expedition and the guiding question: ‘Who Speaks for the Trees?’

7 Explorer started to investigate the geographical context of the expedition further today in HUMAN when they considered the world’s different climate zones and where the Amazon Rainforest is located.

Zooming in even further, students looked carefully at and analysed climate graphs and then constructed their own rainfall and temperate graphs to show the climate of a tropical rainforest.

It’s fair to say that the craftsmanship and quality of students’ work today was excellent!

Churchill Clean Up Crew!

By K Poncia12th June 2019

As students of XP East School we know that we have a key role to play in the stewardship of our school and its surrounding area.  To ensure that our school grounds, both inside and out, are kept in top condition, each crew takes part in ‘Clean Up Crew’.

Last week, it was Crew Churchill’s turn so, armed with grabbers and gloves and dressed in our high-vis vests, we tackled the rubbish in Car Park 3.

We collected five bin bags full of rubbish, ranging from McDonald’s packaging, to nappies to car parts!

Churchill always work hard during Clean Up Crew and feel proud that they have had a role in keeping our environment clean and tidy.

E25 X Block artwork preparing for our STEAM product – can you guess what we’re making?

By J Townson12th June 2019

Here are some tasters of the planning stages and the first drafts of our artwork for the product of our current STEAM expedition Escape Earth.

Can you guess what our product will be?

Click here to find out lots more about the product itself and the rationale behind it on our expedition website

Preparation is key – we researched the kinds of images we wanted to recreate, then used pencils and pens to plan shapes, colour schemes and patterns.

Practice makes perfect – we used water and dilute acrylic paints to explore how the paint moved across the page, as well as mixing colours and blending our own palettes, ready for us to paint our Final Products next week.

 

SLC Preperation

By J Smith12th June 2019

The crew today have started their student led conference (SLC) preparation to be ready for the final parent meeting of the year. The crew have paid particular attention to selecting key artefacts of the expedition. The whole crew have decided that this will be the first SLC that they will deviate from the script and go ‘solo’. In past SLCs, students have prepared scripts and almost read this word for word. 

It has been great to see the growing courage and confidence of crew Mandela, as they now have decided they no longer need this support and only work from bullet points when talking to parents. Great work crew!

 

It’s 3-2-1 in E25 / Y7 Explorer Spanish this week!

By D Pearson11th June 2019

With three spontaneous rounds of applause for quality detailed oral responses, students working in twos to practise using the near future tense, and one student’s appreciation of the teacher it was 3-2-1 in E25/ Y7 Spanish today! Reaching excellence on the rubric required students to transfer knowledge of previously-learned material to a new context in order to link, develop and extend their spoken Spanish. Bravo!