Wider World Wednesday
At Highfield, we pride ourselves in providing a broad and balanced curriculum which challenges and engages all children. To further enhance teaching and learning opportunities we have been extremely excited about introducing 'Wider World Wednesday'.
On Wider World Wednesdays, the children gather into their 8s (mixed age groups of 8 children led by a Year 6 'Eights Leader') and take part in a Wider World Wednesday activity. These activities include drama, health and fitness, food preparation, learning to manage money, road safety and many more essential life skills and learning. This promotes collaborative work and the development of good communicative skills. All activities will support and help to further embed our school values - CARE (Consideration, Aspiration, Responsibility and Enjoyment).
Our first Wider World Wednesday was a huge success. It was particularly nice to observe the children showing our CARE values so well in their mixed age 8s.
FInd out more about the activities below:
Managing Money
After learning about how the ways people have paid for items has changed over time, KS2 children led EYFS and KS1 children through some role play activities related to handling money, spending money and saving pocket money by doing chores.
The children then learned about the difference between spending money on things they need vs spending money on things they want. We also explored the idea of saving money using a 'Would You Rather?' activity.
The UKS2 children went a little further and created a spreadsheet to calculate the value of £100 Birthday money if it was left in a savings account for many years.
Road Safety
Think Stop Look Listen
The children enjoyed learning the Green Cross Code and how to stay safe when out and about. They played a game spotting hazards that they might come across whilst walking to and from school. They created posters to teach others about road safety.
Drama
During this Drama session the 8s played lot's of 'getting to know each other' games. They practiced their improvisation skills and the children were amazing at this! The children then got into small groups and performed a mime version of a fairy tale for the others to guess which fairy tale it was.
Street Art
For our art based Wider World Wednesday activity, the children created a Highfield walk of fame.
The children created their own name plaques using graphic art skills.
First Aid
Children learned about a range of scenarios and situations in which someone might need first aid. The children discussed ways in which we can get help in an emergency. This included practising using a telephone to call 999 and speak to the emergency services.
Staying calm in an emergency is important so the children took part in role play activities to practise keeping calm and helping to make others more calm.
Then they learned about how inhalers are used and how to respond in case of an asthma attack to ourselves or others.
Food Preparation
The children enjoyed making tuna wraps in this food preparation activity.
They tested a range of foods including celery, cucumber, peppers and sweetcorn and discussed how the ingredients for their wraps came from different food groups. They were taught that the wrap was an example of a balanced meal that combined proteins, vegetables, carbohydrates and fats.
Then it was time to prepare the foods using knowledge of hygiene as well as developing the skills of using peelers and knives safely. The children put the foods together to create a delicious and nutritious Tuna Crunch Wrap - working well within their eights, supporting each other.
Stitching
During this Wider World Wednesday activity, the children learned about a range of stitching, sewing and weaving techniques.
They then had the opportunity to practise applying them using a range of materials and threads.
Health and Fitness
The children explored the link between the food we eat and the energy we use in daily life and exercise.
They studied the quantities of sugar in every day food items and then calculated how much exercise it would take them to use that amount of energy through beginning to understand calories.
After that, it was their turn to do the work and burn off the energy through a range of exercises timed to match the amount of energy from the foods.
Oral Hygiene
It was surprising for children to learn how much sugar is in some drinks that we consume. Children weighed out the sugar in common drinks to compare them and then considered what impact this may have on their teeth.
After that, the children learned about good teeth brushing techniques to ensure good oral hygiene and then created posters to promote these behaviours.
Urmston Library Visit
Three 8s walked to the local library to learn about what place the library has within the community.
They read and shared lots of wonderful books with each other and learned about how to access the library by visiting, taking out books and returning them.
It was many of the children's first time visiting a public library.
Music
After beginning this musical session by finding the underlying rhythms in nursery rhymes using clapping and percussive instruments, the children then went on to learn about how different notes and chords can change the feel and mood of a song.
After this, the children enjoyed singing and playing instruments to modern pop songs 'Flames' and 'Beautiful Things'.
Forest School
At our Wider World Wednesday session we created clay spiders, making sure to collect eight sticks for their legs, as well as using teamwork to help each person in our Eight through the different sized holes in the spider's web!
