This week, Year 6 began their new topic all about Ancient Greece. This half term, we will be looking at what society and culture was like during this period in history and how it differs from life in Modern Britain.
For our first lesson, pupils had the opportunity to explore a wide range of resources and act as historians by asking deep thinking questions about what they could see. We will then strive to answer all of this questions as we work through the unit.
As the term progresses, we will explore the influence and impact of the Ancient Greeks, the myths and legends left behind, clues from the past and will end on a presentation where pupils will act as historic reporters.
Year 6 have been working hard on their French skills!
We already knew our numbers 1-10 but we built on this to learn our numbers 10-100!
We did My Turn Your Turn to learn these numbers and then we played a matching game where the children had a number in English that they had to match with the French word.
The children had to use their reciprocity skills to work together to match them all.
In Year 6, are History topic for this term is Crime and Punishment. We have been looking at the variety of crimes and punishments throughout British history. Year 6 were very lucky this week, as they got a visit from two judges, His Honour Judge Hellman and Tribunal Judge Thaira. The children were able to ask the judges questions about their roles in the British Justice system, how they emotionally cope with rulings they decide and cases that they have judged on.
Gurremat - Why do people have to stand when talking in a courtroom?
Saarah- What is it like to be a Muslim judge?
Ella - Why do you wear robes and wigs?
Courtney - Have you ever made a decision you regretted?
This week, Year 5 took part in their Sports Day. The children were able to take part in activities such as long jump, three-legged race, football dribbling and hurdles. The children showed huge resilience when finding activities challenging and excellent reciprocity in their houses. when Thank you to all the parents, friends and family that attended the Sports day. The children thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon and being supported by so many people.
Tomi- I really enjoyed working in my house team and taking part in all the activities.
Lukas- It was funny when yellow team kept throwing the vortex into the parents.
In Food Tech, we have been learning about Seasonal Food: the times of year when a given type food is at its peak, either in terms of harvest or its flavour.
"Seasonal food is better for the environment because it means it takes less energy and omissions to produce compared to food that is imported or not in season." - Moyin, Almond
The children were extremely resilient whilst trying some new foods: wild rocket, tzatziki, beetroot, avocado...
Today, the children have been looking at the characteristics of living things using MRS GREN to help. We compared a plant, an animal and an object using the specifications of MRS GREN to see how easy it is to recognise living things.
We then went on a scavenger hunt around the school to identify as many differnt living things as possible. We found so many including: cats, humans, buttercups, spiders and we even explored the pond to find dragonflies, tadpoles and some baby frogs in the last stage of metamorphosis!
Some frogs still had their tails. The children were wonderful at handling the creatures with care and placing them back to their natural habitats so that they can continue to thrive.
"This was the best Science lesson EVER!" - Malachi, Lime
"I think this is an oak tree because it is lobed" - Charlie, Oak
Celebrating the Queen’s 70th reign has been quite the event in Year 6. As a year group, we chose to focus on the 1950s, which is the decade in which the Queen was coronated! The children have:
Designed 1950s outfits
Danced to 1950s songs
Recorded news reports about the Queen’s coronation
Created bunting to decorate our tea party
Watched a documentary on the Queen’s reign
Assisted Nursery children on a Jubilee Hunt on the field!
The children have demonstrated the 4Rs this week, but of particular note was their reciprocity when helping the younger children on their hunt.
Please check Google Classroom for all the pictures of the hunt.
“Platinum Jubilee stands for 70 years!” - Callie
“It was so much fun celebrating the Queen - I’ve seen so much red, white, and blue.” - Katlyn
“I’ve loved doing so many activities, but especially hanging out with the Nursery kids.” - Giada
This week has been one big celebration for the Queen's Jubilee!
Year 5 have been working hard in their assessments in the mornings and the afternoons have been time for fun Jubilee themed activities and our theme has been the 1960's.
Below are some pictures of the children creating Andy Warhol style 'Pop Art' on the Queen, playing a game of 'Blow Football' in honour of the 1966 World Cup win!
We then visited the park to play some 1960's themed games and on Friday we had a party in the playground!
Almond and Oak maths class have been working hard to develop the design of their hotels this week; including designing specific rooms. It has been wonderful to see their research come to life and inform their innovative, creative designs through the aid of computers.
The children have made sure that the designs are fit to purpose and in line with their target market.
"The programme we used to create our room designs allowed our imagination to come to life!" Moyin, Almond.
"I loved using the computer programme to create my room design. It was really fun to play around with all the different settings to make the perfect floor plan." Jacob, Almond
We certainly have quite the few budding designers on our hands - well done Year 6! We can't wait to continue the project after half term and for the children to think more clearly about their business plans.
"I am so excited to learn more about how to create a successful business - it will definitely help me with my future!" Giada, Lime
For the rest of Summer Term, Year 6 are researching, designing, and planning their very own hotel! Today we have been researching on Chromebooks our chosen theme of our hotels.
Some examples of themes the children chose were:
Luxury Underwater
Water Activities
Pet-friendly
Avatar the Last Airbender
Football
The children then created a mood board on Google Slides by inserting photos of their hotel.
All this researching and reflecting will eventually lead up to children drawing a scaled floor plan of their hotel, building miniature room, and going over the accounts of the hotel to ensure it is profitable.
"My football hotel is going to have a sauna, steam room, recovery room, and managers room; I need to make sure that the players are all taken care of." - Frankie, Oak
"Once my guests (the influencers) arrive at my hotel, it's going to be mutually beneficial for us all: they will post about the hotel on their social media platforms which will give us more traction and free advertising." - Giada, Lime
"My hotel theme is mysterious. The restaurant menus will be coded so the guests will have no idea what they will be eating until it's served in front of them!" - Divine, Almond
This afternoon, year 6 linked their artwork to the book that we are studying in Literacy, 'Rooftoppers'. The children had to use their blending skills in order to create a perfectly merged sunset. They then sketched the Paris skyline on black paper to add to their sunset to recreate the front cover of the book.
"Art is the most fun subject because we get to use our imagination to draw" - Peter, Lime
"When painting, you should get a little bit of paint and a brush that is nice and smooth to get all the details" - Blake, Oak
"It was hard to draw the Paris skyline but I love art" - Zara, Lime
Year 6 have continued taking on their very own history project based on the Tudors. This project is child led and allows the children to take complete ownership of their learning.
We are so nearly at completion and the children spent this afternoon practising presenting their projects ready for the real presentation delivery day coming up in a few weeks.
The children were able to give and gain some constructive feedback in order to improve their delivery of their slideshows. This was a great way for the children to share their strengths and explain areas for development.
"I can't wait to explain to eveyone how I've become a true Historian and answered my own enquiry question" - Harry, Almond
"There is so much information out there, I feel like I could research the Tudors all day" - Katlyn, Lime
"I've decided to write a script so that I'm well prepared for delivering my presentation to the class" - Lily, Lime
Today Year 5 went on a bomb hunting trip around Dagnam Park!
We used our map skills and found the sites where two V2 Rockets fell during World War II and discussed the damage the weapons had on the environment. In addition to this, we looked around the ruins of The Manor and found the steps to Lady Neave’s cellar where she sheltered during the air raids.
'I can't believe how much history there is here!' Harry
'I loved seeing where people use to live and shelter from the air raids,' Ella
‘Do you think they dropped the bomb here by accident or deliberately?’ Thabang
We were lucky enough to stop at Central Park on our walk back for our lunch break!
Year 6 have been taking on their very own history project this term based on the Tudors. This project is child led and allows the children to take complete ownership of their learning.
Each week, the children add to their project by exploring a new historical skill such as: historical enquiry, interpretation, comparison to other periods of time, chronological understanding, impact on Britain etc.
We began this project by having an immersion lesson - all things Tudors! The children particularly enjoyed the Henry VIII song (see link below). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EGzHsye71c
So far they have chosen a topic area within Tudor history, for example:
Crime and punchiment Fashion Weaponry Battles Family Symbolism
They then had to come up with a question to base their project on which will hopefully be answered in the end, for example: Crime and punchiment - Why were beheadings done publically? Fashion - Did class status affect how Tudor's were dressed? Weaponry - Were bow and arrows the most effective form of weapon? Battles - How did enemies keep themselves safe from one another during battle, what were their tactics? Family - Why was it an expectation to marry so young during Tudor times? Why were men perceived as superior? Symbolism - What is the difference between the significance of the Tudor Rose and the Tudor Shield?
The children then spent a lesson exploring the validity of different primary and secondary sources of information to discover which pieces were likely to prove worthy of being included in their projects.
After that, we looked at comparison between the Tudor times and another period of history based on their question, eg, Tudor fashion verses Roman fashion or Tudor buildings verses Victorian buildings.
Here's to the next few weeks where we will uncover the answers to our historical enquiries - how exciting!
This week in Art, the children have been developing their mathematical understanding of symmetry and have created pieces with lines of symmetry in mind. They worked hard to complete symmetric figures with respect to a specific line of symmetry and created their own symmetrical works of art!
"It definitely helps when I use the mirror. This is so much fun!" Ollie H, Almond
This week, year 6 rounded off their electricity topic by creating their own 'live' posters. They had to design their poster and then create a functional circuit containing a number of components to make their poster come alive with light!
Take a look at some of their creations below:
"This is great, the bulb in the circuit really brings my picture to life" - Nathan, Lime
"To make my bulb brighter, I'm going to add more batteries to my circuit. Not too many though as the excess voltage will cause the bulb to blow" - Tyler, Oak
