Year 1
HAPPY 50th ANNIVERSARY PADDINGTON BEAR

Fifty years ago, on 13th October l958, the book 'A Bear called Paddington' was first published. 

Years 1 and 2 have been learning all about Paddington bear.

Michael Bond, the author of Paddington tells how he invented Paddington. "I bought a small toy bear on Christmas Eve l956.  I saw it left on a shelf in a London store and felt sorry for it.  I took it home as a present for my wife Brenda and named it Paddington as we were living near Paddington Station at the time.  I wrote some stories about the bear, more for fun than with the idea of having them published.  After ten days I found that I had a book on my hands.  It wasn't written specifically for children, but I think I put into it the kind of things I liked reading about when I was young."  Michael Bond sent the book to his agent, who liked it and after sending it to several publishers it was eventually accepted and the very first book "A Bear Called Paddington" was published on 13th October l958.

The story goes:  Although Paddington now lives in London, he originally came from Peru.  After he was orphaned following an earthquake he went to live with his Aunt Lucy and his name then was Pastuso.  When Aunt Lucy moved to the home for retired bears, she decided to send Pastuso to England to live.  She taught him how to speak English and arranged for him to stow away in a ship's lifeboat.  Eventually Paddington arrived at Paddington Station in London which is where the very first story book begins with the words "Mr and Mrs Brown first met Paddington on a railway platform.  In fact, that was how he came to have such an unusual name for a bear for Paddington was the name of the station." The Browns were at the station to meet their daughterJudy, when Mr Brown spotted a bear sitting all alone on a suitcase, behind a pile of mail bags, close to the lost property office.  The bear was wearing nothing but a hat and a label round his neck bearing the words "Please look after this bear. Thank you."  Unable to resist, the Browns took Paddington home to live with them at 32 Windsor Gardens and it was Mr and Mrs Brown that named him Paddington after the station where he was found." .....

Having heard all about Paddington Years 1 and 2 decided they would make Paddington gardens.  They divided into groups and using their team skills each group discussed a plan for their garden.  They collected various materials - soil, stones, sticks, paper etc and each group assembled their garden.  The gardens were then displayed in the junior library for parents to view.
CLASS 1 VISIT TO LULLINGSTONE & EAGLE HEIGHTS - June 08
The coach took us on a short journey to Lullingstone. On arrival we were greeted by our ranger, Lucy. After a short talk with Lucy about minibeasts, we were put into our groups and each group was given a tray and pots to collect minibeasts. Some of the pots had magnifiers so we could view the minibeasts clearly. We walked to the meadow to search for minibeasts. It was great fun delving in the long grass and we found ants, woodlice, earwigs, damselflies, dragonflies and even a froghopper! 

After the grassland we walked up the hill to the woodland area where we searched once again for minibeasts resident in the woods. We found ladybirds, caterpillars, woodlice, beetles and a spider. 

We walked back to the shop where some of us bought souvenirs. We were soon back on the coach heading for Eagle Heights, the Bird of Prey Centre, which was just a short distance away. 

At Eagle Heights we went straight to our seats for the open air bird display. First of all we watched an American Bald Eagle. It was very large with a white head and white tail. We then saw a Saker Falcon and he soared at tremendous speed to strike his prey. Next was a group of Caracara birds. They entered the arena making a lot of noise and were very amusing as they ran through the seating area in pursuit of food. Finally, a HUGE Condor walked in and the ranger was tempting him with a dead rat (not for the squeamish!). The Condor tugged at the rat with great strength.

It was time for lunch (no rats for us!) and we picnicked on tables just outside the shop.

After lunch we were back in our groups and we wandered around the grounds looking at the animals. We saw pigs, goats, camels, huskies, meercats, giant tortoise, cheetahs and we visited the reptile house and the bird house. 

Next was the reptile display. As we walked to our seats there were 3 people in the centre of the arena holding snakes. One of the rangers gave a short talk and told us the snakes were all constrictors. After the talk the rangers brought the snakes to us and we were allowed to hold and stroke them. There were two small snakes and the third and largest, must have been about a metre long. It was quite scary holding them but at the same time very exciting!

A quick visit to the shop to purchase our gifts and souvenirs and onto our coach for the journey back to Granville. We very much enjoyed our day and the weather had been kind to us (rain had threatened but thankfully we did not see any).
BRADBOURNE LAKES - February 2008
On a beautiful sunny morning Class 1 made the short walk from The Granville School to The Bradbourne Lakes where we were going to make a study of ducks.  We  looked at male and female ducks and we learnt that the mummy duck is called a duck and the daddy duck is called a drake.  We fed them stale bread and we looked at their webbed feet and the waterproof coating on their feathers.  
 
There were lots and lots of ducks on the lakes and they were very brightly coloured.  Their coats were green and blue and brown and white and they were shimmering and shining in the sunlight.