The Diary of an Evacuee - Year 5 Literacy

 

This half term of learning about WWII, through the lens of the characters in Letters from the Lighthouse, comes to a close.

The children were engulfed by the fact that this was once a reality for children their age and this week, they had the opportunity to write a diary entry from the perspective of a child being sent away to 'safety' during the war.

Our Year 5's used literary skills such as first person, adverbials of time and place and were intentional that the detail and tone of their writing matched both the diary style and their character. 

Enjoy videos of a few of the children reading their diary entry aloud.

Cruz, Larch

Maya, Larch

Max, Larch

Elsie, Larch

Writing from the Inside Out: A Gut-Wrenching Diary Entry!

 

There is nothing quite like a science-fiction twist to get children excited about writing. This week, our budding authors took a "deep dive" (quite literally!) into the human body. To link our science topic on the digestive system with our creative writing, the children were tasked with writing a diary entry from the perspective of a piece of food.

By personifying a piece of broccoli or a wayward spaghetti noodle, the children were able to demonstrate their scientific knowledge of biological processes while practising first-person narrative and emotive language.

Surviving the Storm in Year 6- Readers Theatre

The Waves Attack

Our whole class helped create the storm: stomping feet for thunder, rustling paper for wind, and whooshing sounds for the rising sea.

When the waves “hit,” Zoe and Munchkin had to fight for survival.

What We Learned

In Lime class, acting out the scene helped us understand: how desperation drives both Zoe and Munchkin, how climate change shapes their world, and how humans behave in extreme danger.

In Almond Class, one child compared the waves to monsters!

 In Oak Class, Ali and Laura managed to go completely off-script and even used prompts for their performance - there was some lovely acting too!

Ayaan and Aziz's performance was short and sweet but they had memorised their lines and spoke fluently.

Zayd showed off his ability to change his voice to suit different characters.

Sophie and Jefflyn had a special sarcastic flair when our character -Zoe - asked her friend to stop singing!

 

Year 6: Turning 2D drawings into 3D!

2D Drawings into 3D Objects

 

During this half-term the children have explored artists who use drawing skills to create objects.  They have learnt how to use negative space and the grid method to improve their drawing skills.  This has culminated in them transforming their drawing of a lizard (based on our class novel 'Holes') into a 3-dimensional object.

Marvellous Magnolias !

 Over the past two weeks, the children in Magnolia have been learning about instruction texts. They looked at the features of an instruction text and which sets of instrutcions they thought inclued all the key features. They then went on to complete a shared write, where they wrote instructions on ' How to make a Pancake.' The children then independently planned and wrote their own set of instructions on, ' How to make a Jam Sandwich.' All children worked really hard on their instruction writing and on Friday put their instructions to good use and all made their own jam sandwhich.

"I can make this sandwich for my mum now !" - Lexie

"I have cut my sandwich into quarters." - Skyla

In Maths this week, the children have been consolidating their learning and using all their arithmetic skills to complete different tasks. To end their unit of arithmetic, the children took their maths learning outside and went on a mathematical scavenger hunt. The children used their receprocity skills to work with different class mates and were very resilient in finding the correct answers.

" I loved doing maths outside, it was so much fun !" - George

" Some of the answers were tricky but I worked with my partner to work them out."- Ruby

A fantastic week of learning in Magnolia !

Exploring Characters in Year 6 - 29.1.25

 In Literacy, the children have been studying the book 'Holes' by Louis Sachar. Throughout this week, they have been introduced to a new character 'The Warden'. The Warden is the ruthless overseer of Camp Green Lake, which is a detention centre for young boys. Known for her fiery red hair and venom-coated nails, she forces the boys at the camp to dig endless holes under the scorching sun, claiming it's to 'build character'. 

After watching a clip of part of the story and reading onto the next chapter, the children were hot seating how Stanley feels as he is sent to the Warden for something he didn't do - stealing Mr Sir's sunflower seeds. The children were to take on the role of Stanley, who is fully aware of the Warden's piercing gaze and cruel authority.

The children were asked: 

• How did you feel the moment you saw Magnet with the stolen seeds?

• How did you feel when you saw Mr Sir approaching?

• Why did you take responsibility for the theft?

• How did you feel about the other boys at the time?

• How did you feel on your way to see the Warden?

Larch Pictures

'Stanley must have felt let down by his so called 'friends' as they really threw him under the bus. Friends should stick by you and not let you take the blame for something you didn't do'. Lavinia, Larch

  

  

 

Birch Pictures

Redwood Pictures

'I can't believe it always happens to me, I always get the blame for everything. My dirty rotten pig stealing Great Great Grandfather!' Naina, Redwood, pretending to be Stanley.

Birch photos 

“Hot seating is really good for my public speaking. I enjoyed being Stanley.” Logan , Birch 

Year 6 get a taste of Paris!

Year 6 get a taste of Paris! 

This week, we immersed ourselves into the Parisian lifestyle to prepare us for our research into Paris. In our classrooms, there was a carousel set up with various stations: landmarks and attractions, culture and cuisine, technical vocabulary and fun facts finder. At each station, we completed an activity to learn more about Paris. We tried French food, translated common phrases, researched famous Parisians and found definitions of technical vocabulary, which we will use in our non-chronological reports. 

"The literacy lesson made us feel like we were in Paris because we got to learn the names of the landmarks, how to say a little bit more in French and try some French food." Niamh, Birch 

"I learnt that the Louvre is the biggest art museum in the world!" Flynn, Redwood

Year 6 Writing

This half term, the children in Year 6 have been reading the book Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell. They have analysed the main character, Sophie, and explored the events which unfold after her and her guardian (Charles Maxim) run away to Paris in pursuit of finding Sophie's mother. 

Writing from the perspective of Sophie, the children have learnt different ways to describe a setting- resulting in some lovely descriptions of Paris. They have examined how dialogue can be used to convey action and move a story forward. All these skills have been put together to retell Sophie's adventure on the rooftop of a Parisian building. To begin they used Katherine Rundell's story to guide their writing but this week they have been writing their own chapter of what happens next to Sophie and her new acquaintance, Matteo. From nearly falling off the building to running across the rooftops of Paris, the children have been creative and used their knowledge of Sophie to bring her adventures to life. 

Using their resourcefulness skills, the children have successful extracted the key information from the original story to ensure continuity.

We look forward to seeing the finished pieces. 

 “My nose was blocked by the pungent scent of bin juice and chimney smoke, mixed with rainwater.” Vanessa , Birch 

"I think Matteo would laugh at Sophie's misfortune." Ryan, Larch. 

"As my face lit up with excitement, I took Matteo's outstretched hand and we ran across the bird dropping-covered asphalt." Faramade, Larch 

"I relished at the wonder of Paris. Somewhere in the skyline, I saw the Sacré-Cœur too. Paris is truly beautiful." Eddie, Redwood 

Poetry in Year 6

                                                                 

This past week, the children have been exploring different British poets in celebration of National Poetry Week. Each poem explored different social aspects impacting modern Britain. On Thursday, the children had the opportunity to look at the poem, The British by Benjamin Zephaniah. To begin, we watched a performance of the poem, which helped with our understanding of the pivotal message the poet wanted to convey. Following this, the children worked in pairs to rehearse their own reading of the poem. In order to be successful, the children reflected on what tone, pace and actions might be needed for this poem. To concluded the lesson, the children had the opportunity to share their performance with the rest of their class. 

 

 

 

"I like how the poem sounded like a recipe." Najhat, Birch 

"The end of the poem could be read slowly to make the message clear and stand out from the rest of the poem." Maxi, Larch

Year 6 - Wonderful Writers

 

Year 6's Literacy Journey

This week, Year 6 have continued reading their class text 'Floodland.' Once we had recapped the key events, we began using our reflective skills and putting ourselves in the main character's shoes. We thought about how Zoe thought, felt and spoke. 

"If I add a fronted adverbial to my sentence, I know that the extra information can help the reader imagine what I'm describing." Karimah, Birch 

Following this, we revised features such as fronted adverbials, simple/ progressive past tense and main/ subordinate clauses. Here, the children showed how resourcesful they could be by using word banks and chromebooks to uplevel their words and phrases. 

"Subordinate clauses add more detail to our sentences." Meerab, Redwood

"The subordinating conjunction provides extra information for my reader. For example, it tells them when something happens." Kenzie, Larch

Next week, we will begin writing our diary entries and we can't wait to see what Year 6 produce after their fantastic efforts this week. 

Lovely Limericks in Year 5

 

Lovely Limericks in Year 5

Yesterday, Year 5 began writing different poems. We focussed on creating Limericks. The children chose a topic they would like to write about and began creatign their poems on whiteboards before publishing their finished pieces into their books.

The children were resourceful and used a rhyming dictionary to assist them with finding words for their AABBA pattern. 

Lime

"This has been my favourite literacy lesson this year!" - Lucas, Lime 

Oak 

"There once was a teacher called Miss Brimmer, 

All the children in class loved her,

Until it became time to leave, 

None of them could believe, 

When they knew she was just next door!" Asher, Oak 

Almond

 

“Limericks are funny but crazy at the same time because they use rude but funny words” said Karin. I enioyed writing the

Year 5 debate

 Boxing Match Debating in Year 5

This week, Year 5 have started their new Literacy genre (balanced arguments). We have been looking at the features that create a balanced argument, identifying them in texts and practising using cause and effect conjunctions in our work.

We are going to be writing a balanced argument based on our class text 'The Hacker' where we will be debating whether two children should or shouldn't have hacked into their dad's computer. 

Today, we were put into groups and we had a boxing match-style debate where we had to express our points for and against the children hacking their dad's PC. Year 5 showed excellent reciprocity as they listened to each other's points and gave counter arguments for them.

Lime

'It was so much fun being able to use our plana to make arrguments to beat the other team' - Max

Oak

'It was really nice arguing my points and seeing the other team respond' - Meerab

Almond

“I really enjoyed watching everyone debate. There were so many points raised I was shocked. “ Simon, Almond