Spring Term – 2024
History
As historians we have immersed ourselves in life in 1666 to discover the causes and impacts of the Great Fire of London. We used enquiry skills to research what houses looked like at that time and how this helped the fire spread rapidly. We experienced this for ourselves on a smaller scale as we made and burnt a replica of Pudding Lane on the playground.
We used a range of sources to learn more about the effects of the fire and asked ourselves if they were helpful sources of information and why different sources might give different views, ideas or information. We welcomed Partake Theatre Company into school who helped us to understand the sequence of events by taking us on a live retelling. We had all had roles and had great fun trying to put the fire out with our water chains from the River Thames. Once we had a good understanding of how the fire started and why it spread so quickly we applied our understanding of chronology to create our own timelines, drawing on key information. Finally we took a trip to Arnold Fire Station to look at modern day fire safety and understand how the impact of the Great Fire has changed our modern lives.
Art
As artists we developed our understanding of collage by looking at the work of Kurt Schwitters and Eric Carle. We looked carefully at a range of their work and formed and shared our opinions of our likes and dislikes. We looked at how they used skills of tearing, folding, scrunching and rolling to create texture and mixed media to add layers to their work and explored these skills in our project books. Using the Great Fire of London as inspiration we created mixed media collages.
Writing
As writers we have developed our use of powerful adjectives and verbs to write a story and a diary as an eye witness. We were inspired by books we had read and the work of Samuel Pepys. Seeing a fire first hand helped us to generate and understand lots of new vocabulary which we used in our work. We thought about the emotions and actions of people during different stages of the fire and tried to use conjunctions to add more detail to our work.
Science
As scientists we have been building on our understanding of animals’ habitats and how these help animals to survive. We looked at different habitats around the world and which animals were best suited to them and why, we explored the microhabitats we could find in our school grounds and considered why we need to protect them. We had fun learning about food chains and pretending to be the producers, prey and predators in different food chains. Some of us were able to apply this understanding to create our own food chains in Golden Time.
Design and Technology
We learnt about different types of axels and experimented with making prototypes of each kind to help us decide which would e the best choice for our own models.
We looked at images of fire engines and considered the different features that they needed before making sketches. Finally we created our own model fire engines using a chassis and axels.
Autumn Term 2 – 2023
Writing
Using example texts about Japan we have written our own non-chronological reports about Rise Park, sharing key facts and discussing the human and physical features of the area. After our walk in the local area we were inspired to write to the local council about the rubbish in the area using adjectives, fronted adverbials and rhetorical questions to help make our points.
Geography
Using the local area as our focus location we developed our understanding of maps and aerial photographs and human and physical features. We used a map to track the journey we took as we walked around our local area. Using aerial photographs, we were able to understand how aerial views are created and developed our understanding of maps by creating a map of both our classroom and a small section of the local area. We can now confidently identify which features are human and which are physical.
Fieldwork
To launch our geography topic we took part in some fieldwork in the local environment developing our sense of place. We visited 3 areas around school including the nature area and the car park. We compared the amounts of noise, litter, colour and safety of each area.
Art
We have bene inspired by the work of Artist Michelle Reader and were lucky to have a virtual meeting and studio tour with her during our topic. We learnt new ways to join materials including flanges, tabs and tying. Using all these techniques we designed and made our own sculptures from recycled materials just like Michelle Reader.
Additional Activities
We had a wonderful time with Rachel who led us in a workshop called “The boy Who Cried Wolf”. We were all able to take part acting as different characters from the tale before a few of us took on key roles to help Rachel retell the story to us all.
Autumn Term 1 – 2023
History
We have been learning about significant events and using chronological order to help us make timelines of the significant events in our lives. We learnt about Jesse Boot and the significant changes he made to health care in Nottingham. We enjoyed looking at some artefacts from the 1800s and using our observation skills to try and identify their uses.
Design and Technology
As designers we have been working with food to design and make Gazpacho. We can tell you what the main ingredients are, what makes it unique and which country it originates from. We have learnt about hygienic practises in the kitchen and now know how to make sure we are properly prepared to work with food. We have learnt different methods for preparing food including the bridge and claw holds, grating and peeling. We also tried a variety of ingredients that can be used in Gazpacho and rated their taste, smell and textures. We used this information to help us design a soup for Mrs Bee and Mrs Swift.
Science
In science we have been developing our understanding of materials and the properties that make them suitable for different jobs. First, we investigated a range of different objects and categorised them according to the materials they were made from. We have been gathering properties to make a word bank to help us understand why an object is made from a certain material. We created an investigation to help us find out which material was the best for cleaning up a spill and practised recording our results in a table.
