Learning Journey Spring

We managed to win the silver trophy in the attendance awards this week.  As it has been a long time coming, we thought we'd put a celebratory picture on the website.  Also RM and EK were nominated by their peers for a kindness award.  The head boys and girls thought they deserved a badge to say a huge well done to them both. 

The children worked hard to write a diary entry as if they were Howard Carter discovering the tomb of Tutenkhamun.  We looked at examples and identified features.  It allowed us to tie in our work on the past tense as well as looking at pronouns. 

During the last half term the children have used the programme on Purple Mash to practice their typing skills.  This has included how they sit and where they place their hands.  To finish this unit, the children created a fact file about an Egyptian god.  Unfortunately their wasn't a picture of every god!

During the last few weeks we have been studying the tomb of Tutenkhamun using different sources. The children sketched images that they had researched, and then combined these to create their own tomb wall. We also looked at different Egyptian gods, some were very prevalent in the tomb's of pharaohs.  The children used pastels and charcoal to create their drawings. 

The children designed and carried out an investigation to see which magnet was the strongest.  There were four different magnets to test.  They had also used magnets with iron fillings, and talked about the different forces in action. 

Over the last few weeks (21st/28th March) the children have been studying a variety of different sources and artefacts allowing them to draw conclusions about life in ancient Egypt.  The photos show the different images the children have been looking at. 

The historian, David Cadle, visited the school on Monday.  They loved seeing the artefacts, listening to his stories and having loads of hands-on experiences. The photos below show the range of things the children enjoyed during the day. 

This week in school (7th March) we have begun our new topic, Ancient Egypt. We began by looking at the country of Egypt and what it would be like.  This allowed us to use some of the vocabulary that we had learned during our previous topic.  Words like: biome, arid, equator and continents. Below are a few images of the children wearing a lovely pharaoh headdress.  We had a brief look at hieroglyphics and mummification this week. 

This week the children (28th February) had the opportunity to share their topic homework with each other. The tasks ranged from creating a piece of art to researching about food chains and a tropical rainforest.  You can see the full list in our topic homework section. The children have worked really hard so well done to them, and of course the parents.  Click on the links below to see the children's work...

At the end of the term, the children used what they had learned about the topic and created their own tropical biome. Discussions drew out plenty of great vocabulary, with specific attention given to the structure of the rainforest once again. 

Week Beginning 7th February

The children had the opportunity to write a report about the Amazon Rainforest. We looked at a variety of organisational devices, plus ways of presenting information so it can be found easily by the reader.  The children enjoyed researching and grouping the information into paragraphs. In our SPaG sessions we've looked at moving certain conjunctions and adverbs to the beginning of sentences.  

The children had the opportunity to join in with a live lesson run by the BBC.  This included none other than Sir David Attenborough. They looked at: how plants adapt to their environment, the parts of the flower and the seed dispersal process. This fitted in brilliantly with our current science topic called Plants. 

We read the story, If I Ran the Rainforest by Bonnie Worth, and used it to retrieve information about the rainforest and its structure.  The children drew and labelled a picture of what it would look like.  They then used the information to explain what a rainforest is like. 

Week Beginning 17th/24th January

Having read the start of the story, The Explorer, by Katherine Rundell, the children planned and wrote their own survival short story.  They wrote a narrative about the children's first day in the jungle following the plane crash.  Below are a few examples of the children's work:

The children began their topic of plants recalling what they knew.  Following this they identified and explained the different parts of the plant and flower.  They completed the dissection activity in pairs. 

Week Beginning 3rd January

The children began the topic by creating a classroom display. They completed a number of different art activities which also allowed them to unlock what they knew and begin learning some of the key ideas in the topic.  Which animals can you spot?