Welcome to the home page for the first half of the Autumn term 2023. There is something special about the start of a new school year; new classrooms; new topics and new friendships. This page will give you a flavour of our learning this half term.
Our main topic focus for this half term
Over the autumn term, our main focus topic will be about the Victorian period in Britain: our topic is called ‘Revolution’. With a focus on history, we will look specifically at how life changed during the Victorian era and the impact this had on people’s lives at the time. Where possible, we will make connections with how the the changes seen in Great Britain occurred in Italy.
Of course, history is just one of our subject areas but we do try to make links in our other subjects. For example, our English lessons will focus on using texts with a Victorian focus, and in Science, we will study Evolution and Inheritance and learn about the discovery of Charles Darwin which happened during Victorian times.
To find out more about what we will be learning in each subject area, please download and have a look at the following topic web.
Our Fortnightly Learning Blogs
Here you can find out what we have been learning about in class. The blog is updated every two weeks.
Week ending – Friday 27th October 2023
What an incredibly fun and busy two weeks we have had in school as we come to the end of the first half of the Autumn term.
We’ve delved deeper into looking at explanation texts. We created a writerly knowledge chart of the features of explanation texts and explored the grammar we need to use in more depth including relative clauses, subordinate clauses, using active and passive verbs and fronted adverbials!
One of the highlights was conducting a science experiment so that we can practise writing an explanation text. We made lava lamps using water, oil, food colouring and salt. We watched as the oil and water separated (because the oil is less dense than water) but when we added salt to the jar, the oil sank and then rose again! This was because the oil attached to the salt and when it dissolved, the oil rose to the surface again – just like a real lava lamp! Thank you to Mrs Grady for leading us through the investigation and helping us understand the science too!
In another science lesson, we looked at how plant and animal species are adapted to the environments in which they live. For example, a camel is adapted to a desert environment because it has wide feet to make it easier to walk in the sand and it is able to store water.
In our final week of the half term, we thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the ‘One World’ activities we had in school. Monday was great fun as we were able to come to school dressed in clothes/ uniforms which represent something of our heritage, or a community we are part of. It was wonderful to see how many different communities we belong to.
On Tuesday, we had the most amazing time visiting four different countries around the world which are linked to children within our school. We visited Nepal, Poland, St Lucia and Australia. In the workshops, we learnt about the physical and human geography of the country and then took part in an activity linked to the country. One of the best parts of the day was having the chance to work in groups with children from across the school and move around and be taught by all of the different teachers.
The busy week didn’t end there! On Wednesday, Lamborghini class led the sharing assembly so we could tell the rest of the school about some of the exciting learning we have been doing over the half term. The children wanted to share their art, computing, music (doing the cup song) and also a live experiment! It was wonderful to see the children speak with enthusiasm and confidence about the learning they have enjoyed.
It’s been a very busy and fun half term. Thank you so much to the children in the class for being amazing! Have a wonderful, week-earned half term.
Week ending – Friday 13th October 2023
Over the last two weeks, we have completed our English unit on Street Child, and have started a new unit looking at explanation texts.
To complete our Street Child unit, we drafted and edited our own chapters for Jim’s escape from the workhouse. The children worked hard to include all of the features of the text we had studied including tension; use of direct speech to show conversations between characters and the use of paragraphs to show changes in place, action and time. We are very pleased with our finished pieces.
The new English unit that we started, is all about explanation texts. We are using the book ‘How stuff works’ to understand the features of explanation texts and look at how the pages are laid out and written to explain difficult concepts clearly.
In maths we have also concluded a unit and started a new one! We completed the unit on place value by learning how to round numbers to the nearest 1,000, 10,000 and 100,000 (Year 5) and to any required number (Year 6).
We started our new unit on the four operations by focusing on addition and subtraction skills: both mental and formal methods. We were very good at this so will be moving on to a new area next week.
For our maths home learning, we have had some exciting Times Table Rockstars challenges where the girls and boys, and also Year 5 and Year 6 have battled it out to be the champions. Well done to the boys and also Year 6 who collectively won.
In guided reading the children really enjoyed a focus week on Victorian poetry. We read The Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll which was a favourite because of the weird and wonderful language it uses. We also looked at The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred Tennyson which is written about a famous battle during the Crimean war. See below for some of the children’s interpretations of what they think the Jabberwocky looked like.
In science this week we have learnt about Darwin’s theories on natural selection and the survival of the fittest through learning about Darwin’s discoveries on the Galapagos Islands during his voyages between 1831 and 1836.
To help them understand the ideas in more depth, the children conducted an investigation to model how different tools (like birds’ beaks) have adapted to improve their ability to catch and eat food. The children had to use different tools, such as chop sticks, pegs and tweezers, to pick up items such as pumpkin seeds, pasta and oats. Through doing this investigation, the children could understand how the finch species adapted to ensure they could eat the food available. It was lots of fun!
Week ending – Friday 29th September 2023
We have had an incredibly busy two weeks and have enjoyed delving deeper into our subject areas. It’s also been lovely to welcome another two children to the class.
One of the areas the children really enjoyed learning about was the workhouse! Workhouses were places where the poor and destitute went during Victorian times if they had no money. Poor Jim Jarvis, from our story ‘Street Child’, found himself in the workhouse when his sick mother was no longer able to work and therefore couldn’t pay the rent. After reading our book, we completed some research to find out more about what life in the workhouse was like.
Another area of great interest has been around our science topic of ‘evolution’. The children have enjoyed exploring fossils and thinking about the clues that they can tell us about living things thousands of years ago. We learnt about Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution and what led Darwin to his discoveries. It was also interesting to learn how his ideas were received in Victorian Britain; not everyone was pleased to believe that they were the ancestors of primates!
Our RE lessons have focused on the big question ‘Is God real’? Again, this had strong links with our science learning and it was interesting to see the children making connections between religion and science. The children investigated some of the ways God is described in the Bible and considered why God was labelled in such a way. This led to a very interesting discussion about whether we have to see something to know if it is real or not.
In maths lessons we have further increased our understanding of place value by looking at ordering and comparing numbers and more recently, rounding.
It’s been an exciting two weeks and it’s been fantastic to see the children be so motivated by their learning.
Week ending – Friday 15th September 2023
Welcome to the new school year! It’s been fantastic to be back in school and getting to know each other. We have had lots of new children join the class which is great news; lots more friends and people to learn with.
Over these first two weeks, we have been settling into our new learning environments, reminding ourselves of the school and class routines, and starting to learn about our new subject areas.
Without a doubt, the children have enjoyed learning about the Victorian period. We have looked in topic books and watched a few learning clips to get a feel for what life was like in those days. The children were particularly interested in finding out about life for children during Victorian times; particularly for children. Some of the jobs they were expected to do were horrendous!
In English lessons, we are using the text ‘Street Child’ by Berlie Doherty to learn more specifically about the life of a Victorian child: Jim Jarvis. He becomes orphaned and gets sent to the workhouse. We will be using the book as a stimulus to write our own alternative chapters for the book.
At the beginning of the school year, we focus on learning about place value in maths. This is looking at the value in each digit of numbers, partitioning and rounding. In year 5 and 6 the children explore number up to 1,000,000 (Year 5) and 10,000,000 in Year 6.
In other curriculum areas, our PE units this half term are rugby skills and step to the beat fitness. We are using body percussion, singing and percussion instruments to explore beat on the theme of keeping healthy. We have started our weekly Italian lessons with Kelia and will focus on introducing ourselves and talking about ourselves.
It’s been a wonderful start to the new school year – thank you children for already trying your very best in your learning.
