Our Spring Journey
Spring 1 curriculum and homework web
spring 1 curriculum web y6.pdf
English- Who let the Gods out?
This half term, our English learning will be focusing on the book 'Who let the Gods out? by Maz Evans. This will link with our History learning of Ancient Greece. At the end of the term, children will be writing a newspaper report.
We had a 'hook morning' to begin our English learning this term. We introduced the Greek Gods, we discussed how the ancient Greeks used Gods to explain the world around them and they were a bit like humans but were more powerful and lived forever. Children had heard some names of the Gods before but didn't know much about them. We started off by making predictions about the Gods we had heard of e.g. Zeus, Hermes, Aphrodite etc. Then introduced new gods. Children read different descriptions of Gods and made predictions about which was which.
From this, we learnt that as well as the Gods and Goddesses, the Greeks had the constellations or the signs of the zodiac. These were heroes that had been favoured by the gods/goddesses and were given a place amongst the stars as a memorial of their good deeds. Each constellation or star sign, has different personality traits which are still used today for horoscopes. Children enjoyed finding out their star signs and reading some of the personality traits that comes with that sign. Can you find yours?
Having this lesson at the beginning really helped us understand the book which is about a shooting star that crashes to earth and lands Elliot smack bang in the path of Virgo - a young Zodiac goddess on a mission.
We explored the story further by completing role on the walls, writing character descriptions as well as using our retrieval and inference skills to dig deeper.
Look at our journey so far...
RE- What kind of king is Jesus?
This term, children will be exploring Christianity and the Kingdom of God answering the question 'What kind of king is Jesus?'. Children enjoyed a Godly Play session in their class where we heard the Parable of the Mustard seed before completing some small tasks exploring this parable more.
History- Ancient Greeks
This term, we are learning about the Ancient Greeks and answering the question:
I wonder how the Ancient Greeks have impacted my life.
On our learning journey, we will be exploring what life was like for the Ancient Greeks and how different inventions have impacted the modern world as well as learning about different key aspects including the Olympics, government and gods and goddesses.
We are carrying this topic over to our DT where children will be making pottery and our PE where children will be doing different athletic sports in the style of the Olympics. Children will take part in a opening and closing ceremony as part of this.
Here are some pictures from our opening ceremony:
As part of our learning we went on a trip to the Royal Armories museum in Leeds. We were very lucky to take part in a workshop where we learnt how to be a pupil at Sparta and learnt about the story of Medusa! We finished off the day by exploring the museum in our groups.
Here are just a few of the highlights!
Our DT was also linked to our History this term. We explored the use of Greek pottery and made predictions about what life may have been like. We then use the images to plan our own piece of Ancient pottery. We also made a piece of modern pottery, taking inspiration from Emma Bridgewater and Clarice Cliff. We enjoyed used clay to make our pieces before painting them.
They look amazing!!
Values- Courage
Courage is our value this half term. We have been looking an inspirational person and answering a key question: Where does courage come from? We linked our key question with our key person this half term, who has been Muhammad Ali.
We read the the 'Little People, Big Dreams' book about his life and asked ourselves, Why do you think he has been chosen to represent our school value of courage?
This our knowledge mat we used to help us in our learning:
Our Spring 2 journey
Spring 2 curriculum and homework web
spring 2 home learning web.pdf
English- Wonder
This half term we will be focusing on the text: 'Wonder' by R.J Palacio.
We will be working over the half term to develop our skills in order to write a balanced argument during our writing phase.
We started the unit by making predictions of what we thought the book was about based on image in a backpack.
The children were intrigued by what was in the book and has great ideas about what the book was about. We then worked in our groups to make predictions:
Maths- Ratio and Proportion
This half term we will be learning about Ratio and Proportion. We began by looking at how ratio represents a multiplicative relationship between two amounts. Children worked in pairs to create their own representation of ratio.
Science- Evolution and Inheritance
Our key theme this half term is 'I wonder how plants and animals have changed over time?'
This links to our Science topic of Evolution and Inheritance. To begin our topic today completed a Let's Say. The year was 1831, we are on board the HMS Beagle, and were about to embark on a five-year journey to the coast of South America, specifically the Galapagos Islands. There was a man whose job was to observe and study animals, plants and geological formations, was writing detailed notes, sketches and collect samples. Whilst visiting the islands, he noticed that the finches varied widely in their beak shapes, uniquely adapted to their diets on different islands. This observation led him to express his theory of natural selection. In this, children thought about the jobs people would have and decided whether he should publish his findings.
Art
This half term we will be looking at and creating self-portraits inspired by Van Gogh and M C Escher.
More pictures to follow...