On Monday, both Pine and Poplar visited Britain’s tallest Tudor gatehouse, Layer Marney Tower. Throughout the day, we took part in various Tudor themed activities, including Tudor games and food, archery and Maypole dancing.

Climbing the tower was hard work but worth it when we reached the top and saw the amazing views over the Essex countryside. We could see as far as Mersea Island and Bradwell.

The archery session was a big hit with all of the children. We definitely had some hidden talents among us! Check out our video!

Before it was time to leave, we managed to squeeze in a quick lamb feed. They were really cute, but also very greedy!!

Overall we had a fantastic day and learned a lot about the Tudor way of life. We will definitely be using all of these facts in our history lessons this term.

Year 5’s, what was your favourite part of the day and why?

 

Our star writer this week is Zaak, who has written a fantastic non-chronological report about Layer Marney Tower.

Look out for some of our S2S

• Range of sentence openers
• Technical vocabulary
• Adventurous connectives
• Subheadings
• Bullet points

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Background of Layer Marney:

Amazingly Layer Marney has welcomed visitors for over 500 years. Intriguingly Layer Marney is the tallest Tudor gatehouse in England. Historically it was builtin the 1520’s by Lord Marney, with stone imported from other regions. Remarkably there are 99 steps to the top of the tower, which is 80 feet tall. Tragically Lord Marney died before he finished the tower so now the other half of the building is the car park!

Visiting Layer Marney:

At Layer Marney we ensure you that children of all ages will enjoy the experience of trying a plethora of different activities such as;

• food
• medicine
• dancing
• church and religion

We also offer different learning experiences like the stone, iron and bronze age, Romans, Vikings and Greeks (but the Tudor events are the most popular)

Weddings at Layer Marney:

Layer Marney is the perfect place to book your special day. We ensure that your day will be magical and you will never forget it. Talk to our wedding coordinator to discuss your day. We make sure that your day is relaxing and enjoyable, so you have many choices including;

• arriving in a Rolls Royce
• having your ceremony in the Cornellis Room

Not long to go now! Are you ready for our trip to Layer Marney Tower?

In preparation for our visit we have been writing non-chronological leaflets about Layer Marney and have already learned lots of interesting facts about how, when and why it was built as well as investigating some of the other exciting things that you could do there.

Don’t forget to get your costume sorted (Miss Dearing is very excited about this!). If you are unsure here are some pictures for inspiration!

In science we are learning about materials and their properties, investigating changes in materials. Today we have been investigating which materials will dissolve in water. We planned and recorded our investigations in writing first, using adverbs of time and a formal style. Then we worked in teams to test a range of solids such as; sand, sugar, pepper and coffee. We mixed them with cold water and waited a short while before pouring the mixtures through filter paper. We had to use our judgement to decide whether the mixture had completely, partly or not dissolved at all, we did this by looking at the colour and clarity of the liquid, looking for particles floating in the mixture or looking for particles stuck to the filter paper. 

Today was the day (Easter Sunday)!

Our Butterflies have gone off into the world to start their own adventures.

All 10 were successfully released, although they did hang around Miss Dearing for a while (maybe they were a bit nervous).

Poor Bill (Nemo) didn’t seem to be able to take flight, so he was carried to a nice sunny wall at the back of the garden. (That wing never did grow!).

There are several videos for you to watch when we get back to school. Enjoy the rest of the Easter holidays and keep your eyes peeled for any of our butterflies while you are out and about!     

Following a tense morning  (I have spent all morning watching) I am pleased to report that all 5 of the Pine class butterflies and all 5 of the Poplar class butterflies have now emerged!

It was touch and go with Bill for a while and when he did emerge from his chrysalis he was easy to spot as he had one poorly formed wing (Perhaps we should rename him Nemo?).

They all seem quite happy here (at Miss Dearing’s Butterfly hotel), I will be sorry to see them go, but they should be ready to release in a coupe of days!