Mulberry Class Page

Welcome to Mulberry’s Class Page!

Our teachers are Ms Newton and Mr Burgess. Ms Newton teaches us on Mondays and Tuesdays, and Mr Burgess teaches us on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Please explore the pages below to help further support your child at home and to find out what learning and fun we are having!

Radiant Child by Javanka Steptoe

The children read Radiant Child by Javanka Steptoe and wrote their own biographies of the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. They will be continuing their work on Basquiat in their art lessons for the rest of this term. Watch this space…

Amarah’s Biography

Jean-Michel Basquiat was born on 22nd December 1960 in Brooklyn, New York. Basquiat had two sisters: Lisane and Jeanine, with a mother (a Puerto Rican woman) and a dad called Gerard (from Haiti). His mum took him to museums and art galleries. Unfortunately, Basquiat had a car crash when he was only seven years old. In the exact same year, Jean-Michel’s mother grew ill and had to live in a hospital.

A couple of weeks later, at the age of 17, Basquiat fought with his father so he left home. Basquiat made friends with Al Diaz.

At the age of 20, Al Diaz and Basquiat came up with the name SAMO(C) and put on 25 shows! He sold his first painting for £25,000!

Jean-Michel died at the age of 27 on 27th August 1988.

Freddie’s Biography

Jean-Michel Basquiat lived in Brooklyn, New York. He was born on 22nd December 1960. He loved art and he told his dad that he would be an artist. He never stopped making art. He didn’t sleep much because he did art all day and night. His mum Matilde and dad Gerard took him to exhibitions so he could see art. He had two sisters called Lisane and Jeanine and he also had a brother called Max. But when he was 7, he sadly got hit by a car when he was playing on the road. Happily, when he was in hospital, he was given a copy of Grey’s Anatomy which inspired him a lot. In the same yar, his mum got ill! He left Brooklyn and sold stuff like T-shirts and home made post cards. When he went to art school, he found a best friend called Al Diaz. In New York, he started graffiti and under all of his work he wrote SAMO. He did all of this at night. He met Andy Warhol and he had two best friends. In 1980 he had his first exhibition. Sadly he died in 1988.

Lev’s Biography

Jean-Michel was born in 1960 on the 22nd December. His mother (Matilde) was from Puerto Rico and his dad was from Haiti.

Jean-Michel loved art because his mum inspired him to do art by taking him to museums.

When he was 7, he got hit by a car and was badly injured. His mum gave him a copy of Grey’s Anatomy.

Before he started writing SAMO on streets, he joined art school. He left home because he fought with his dad. He didn’t have any money so he worked on his dad’s old work papers. When he sold his first painting for $25,000, he was happy. He died in 1988 when he was 27.

Nina’s Biography

Jean-Michel Basquiat was born in Brooklyn New York on 22nd December 1960. His dad was called Gerard and he was from Haiti. He also had a Puerto Rican mother called Matilde. His mother encouraged him to do art by going to museums and galleries. They also lay on their living room floor and drew pictures on his father’s old work papers. Unfortunately, aged 7, Basquiat was hit by a car and had to be sent to hospital. Luckily, his mother (Matilde) gave him a copy of Grey’s Anatomy, which is a book of the human body parts. This encouraged him to draw lots of human bones. In that same year, Jean-Michel’s mother struggled with her mental health and had to live in hospital. Jean-Michel fought with his father and left home. He moved to central New York and so to support himself he sold T-shirts and home made postcards. When he was around 18, he started doing spray painting on the walls of New York City with his friend Al Diaz. They made up the name SAMO(C) and used it after they had done their spray painting. When he was an adult, he made friends with Andy Warhol and sold his first painting. He and Andy were the craziest pair on the scene. After a long time, Jean-Michel Basqiat died on the 12th August 1988. He was aged 27.

Rock Detectives

Our new topic in Science is rocks, fossils and soils. Children will learn about the formation of all of these, and how this affects their properties. Our first lesson was identifying different specimens of rocks by closely observing their different features. The children noticed that there were more differences than similarities between different rock types, even though they are nominally all the same substance! They then used a classification key to identify which rock sample had which name.

Fantastic Character Descriptions

Cora’s Character Description

Mr Fox crept up the dark tunnel to the mouth of the hole. He sniffed once and he could smell the tasty chickens down at Farmer Boggis’ farm. He crept out of his hole bit by bit but he didn’t know who was lurking above his den! Do you know what attracted the farmers? It was Mr Fox’s black, shiny eyes. Mr Fox scanned the area for the farmers but they were hiding in a bush. His furry, wet nose shone through the hole. The moon shone over the burrow and his eyes were the same colour as the moon.

Orin’s Character Description

Mr Fox crept up the dark tunnel to the mouth of the hole. He sniffed once. Twice. Nothing. He sniffed again. Still nothing. His black nose glittered in the moonlight. Under Mr Fox’s paws was the floor of the forest, and past that forest was a valley, and past that valley were three farms, and in those farms were Boggis, Bunce and Bean. They were the meanest you could ever meet in your entire life and they shot off Mr Fox’s tail! ‘YOWEE!’ he cried as his tail was shot off his body. Mrs Fox licked the bleeding stump that had once been his magnificent tail.

On a hill above the valley there was a wood. In the wood there was a huge tree. Under the tree there was a hole. In the hole lived Mr Fox…

Our new core text is Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl.

Children will revise different sentence types and their punctuation (statement, command, question, exclamation); develop their vocabulary by building ambitious expanded noun phrases (his twinkling, sly eyes); build complex sentences using subordinating and coordinating conjunctions (when, if, so, and, because); and extend their coherence by using prepositional phrases (later that evening, under the bright moonlight, at the tip of his twitching tail…)

We’'ll tie all of our learning together in Week 3 by writing descriptions of the devious Mr Fox. Watch this space…

PE - Balances & Counter Balances

Geography - A Village in Kenya

In Geography, we have been learning about Kenya. We have identified it on a map of the world with its bordering countries. We have looked at the flag, tourism, economy, history and climate of Kenya. We have even made some ugali from maize!

Outdoor learning in the allotment

We’ve all been busy down in the allotment this year. A few months ago we were filling up the raised beds with organic material found in the forest school area then topping that up with some good quality compost and topsoil. Today, we’ve harvested some delicious peppery radishes and transplanted our beans and sweetcorn!

Art - Paper Allotment

As spring arrives, we were fortunate enough to have the Primary Arts team come into our school and provide us with two wonderful workshops involving artwork around allotments and nature. We made cabbages, peas, carrots, a veg patch and flower window panes. It was all made from paper! Take a look at some of our artwork below.

How can something so small grow into a tree, which is such an incredibly BIG thing to be?

It Starts with a Seed - Laura Knowles and Jennie Webber

Our new core text is plants, seeds and growing. We are focus on this story with beautiful illustrations about a sycamore seed that starts life out as a humble seed and grows throughout the seasons to become a magnificent tree. Can you spot any sycamore trees around Forest Hill? What other trees can you identify around our local area?

If you enjoyed It Starts with a Seed, why not try…

Famous Nurses - A trip to the Florence Nightingale Museum

As a culmination to our topic Famous Nurses, we went to visit the Florence Nightingale Museum where we dressed up as soldiers in the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale and in modern day nurse uniforms. We also visited the Mary Seacole statue that stands tall outside St. Thomas’ Hospital.

Mass in maths

In maths we have been learning about measurement. The vocabulary that we have focused on includes: mass, weight, kilograms, grams, heavier and lighter. Furthermore, we have learned about measuring length and height as well as temperature.

“Grandma, what large teeth you have!” gulped Little Red.

Little Red Riding Hood

Our new core text is about traditional tales and we are focusing on ‘Little Red Riding Hood’. This story is a classic and there are many innovated versions of the story. You could try reading other versions and find out for yourself what really happened at Grandma’s cottage!

If you enjoyed Little Red Riding Hood, why not try…

World Book Day 2023

For World Book Day this year, we got to have an illustration workshop with writer and illustrator, Fiona Woodcock. We learnt make prints with linoleum and that mixing colours over one another creates unique patterns and illustrations.

The sun shone, the sky was an infinite blue, and Emily’s flowers blew in the wind.

Eric’s Big Day

Our new core text is ‘Eric’s Big Day’ written by Rod Waters. This story is about a young child called Eric who helps out people whilst on his way to see his friend Emily. Can you spot what race this is inspired from?

The fun story is a great way for children to learn about recounts as we will explore, progressive verbs, apostrophes and more!

If you enjoyed Eric’s Big Day, why not try…

Geography - Our Local Area

In Geography, we have been learning about Forest Hill and what can be found here. We have seen from Ordnance Survey maps and aerial photographs that there are many main roads, buildings, green spaces and schools. We even have our own Museum!

World Book Day 2023

For World Book Day this year, we got to have an illustration workshop with writer and illustrator, Lisa Levis. We learnt how to draw with our scissors, a technique that we have used in other areas of our creative learning since learning this skill.

Design and Technology

In preparation for our half term project, we learnt some different ways to attach 2 materials together.

We learnt how to make and use: a flange, a hinge and a slot.

After designing our chairs, we got to work on making them! They had to fit and hold the penguin teddy. We used junk material and our material attaching skills to make it.

Then we got to test it! Our chair was successful if the penguin could sit on it without the chair falling over or breaking.

Geography - The Seaside

We learnt how to use a map to find the seaside in the UK. We tried different types of maps: an atlas or an iPad. We found Broadstairs on the map, we can’t wait to visit soon!

Number Day 2023

For Number day this year, Mulberry drew around their feet. We then used these to measure the length, height and width of objects around school.

Forest School

We have been exploring the forest and using the natural resources around us to make some interesting things!

Nature Bracelets

Using sellotape, ribbon and a hole punch, we made bracelets. We foraged for some leaves or flowers to decorate it. Then we sorted our findings into a pattern, stuck them to the tape and added a ribbon. We were so happy with the results, some children made some for their family at home.

Journey Sticks

We picked our favourite stick and used string to attach all of the interesting or unusual things that we found.

Patterns

Inspired by the flourishing forest, Mulberry made beautiful patterns using leaves, sticks and stones they could find around the forest.

Picture Frames

Using our lashing skills we learnt from making the Journey Sticks, we made picture frames. Then we use the forest to capture some pictures!

That’s Not A Stick!

We read ‘That’s Not a Stick’ by Antoinette Portis. Mulberry explored the forest to find their ‘not a stick’.

We found: swords, walking sticks, kebab sticks, fishing rods and so much more!

M U D M O N S T E R S

We got VERY messy!

Crowns

Mulberry learnt who in the world would wear a crown and why. Then we foraged in our forest to create our own crowns.

We used leaves, sticks and flowers that caught our eye, some of use even used the mud to paint our crowns!

Toasting Marshmallows

Mr Pickering came with us to forest school. We foraged for sticks and helped build the fire. The marshmallows were delicious! We also learnt how to safely distinguish a fire.

Bird Feeders

Using pipe cleaners and cereal, we made some bird feeders. Once we decided how large we wanted our feeder to be, we used our threading skills to thread the cereal through the pipe cleaner. Then we tied it up, added some string, and hung it up around the forest!

Toys

We have been learning about Toys from the past and comparing them to our toys we play with today.

We were looking at how toys change as we grow older. Miss Roche asked us to think about different toys with wheels. We could think of toy cars, toy trains, toy prams, and bikes.

Here we are discussing how wheels change as we grow up. We used a timeline to order them from wheels we use as babies (0 years old), to wheels we use as 5 year olds.

Playground games from the past

We explored some playground games that children might have played in the past. Our favourite game was ‘What’s the Time Mr Wolf?”

In this playground game, we were not allowed to use our arms to stand up. We linked arms with our partner and had to all stand up at the same time! It was harder than it looks…

Then we played ‘Here we go round the Mulberry bush’, we took turns being the leader and gave the class actions to do with the song.

Toys from Around the World at Horniman Museum

We visited Horniman Museum for a workshop on different toys from around the world. There were different toys from Russia, Kenya, Guatemala, China, and France; then we got to play with them!