Inspiring artists!
This week, we have been using Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth as our inspiration for creating our own designs. We sketched some of our favourite designs and then used these ideas to create our own sketches. These will be our final designs that we’ll create our soap sculptures from. The children added texture and negative space to their designs.
A Zoom from Antarctica!
On Friday, KS2 made history by joining the first ever Zoom webinar streamed live to thousands of schools… from Antarctica!
Hosted by Picture News, we were joined by Robert Swan, a conservationist who is the first person to walk on both the North and South Poles.
We learnt about the importance of Antarctica and how we are all owners of this beautiful, unique continent.
Help at home: Visit the 2041 website and ask your child what they learnt on Friday.
Tree Planting
Year 5/6 had the opportunity to plant some trees in our local area this week. This was part of our Where In The World Am I topic in which we looked at carbon stores.
Help at home: Look at the Woodland Trust website for more ideas for how to help biodiversity in your area.
Testing our memories!
Each week in class, the children complete recaps as part of their learning in topic and science. These are great at getting the children to recall the learning they’ve done recently but also remembering the learning they’ve done in previous years. Today, they completed a topic recap as their morning task. It tested their knowledge on geography – the children had to remember the vocabulary linked to fieldwork from last half term. It also made them recall their learning on computing and climates from a previous geography topic.
Design technology – food
This week we’ve been putting out culinary skills to the test. Each child has had the opportunity to make tomato and lentil soup – perfect for the cold days we’ve had this week. They used knives to safely chop and dice the vegetables and fried them on the hob. Adding lentils and chopped tomatoes then created the base for the soup. They sneakily added some seasoning and then left it to simmer. It was great to see how confident the children were with their cooking skills, especially the ones who obviously cook at home. It was also great for those children who don’t often get to cook at home. When they tasted the soup, most children thought it was very yummy. I thought it was delicious and I’ve already consumed three bowls so far this week.
Help at home: Here is the recipe in case you would like to cook it at home. I highly recommend it.
We are artists!
We were developing our subject knowledge as artists this week. The children were given a range of different artwork ranging from paintings to sculptures. The children were great at recognising some of the artists and the names of the artwork. They sorted the images however they wished in their groups and talked about their choices. A lot of the groups categorised them according to figurative or abstract and they showed a great understanding of these terms. They were able to discuss their favourite pieces using accurate vocabulary.
Diving Below Zero in Year 5 Maths
This week in Year 5 maths we have begun our new unit on negative numbers, and the children have already shown great curiosity as they explored what happens when numbers drop below zero. We discussed real-life examples such as temperatures, lifts travelling underground, and money in a bank account to help the class understand how the number line continues past zero into negative values. The children practised counting forwards and backwards through zero, comparing and ordering negative numbers, and creating change stories with negative values. It has been brilliant to see so many children challenging themselves and explaining their reasoning with growing confidence.
Help at home: ask your child to explain how the number line works when it goes below zero and challenge them to give you a real-life example of a negative number.
Anti-Bullying Week
On Monday, children in year 5/6 came in odd socks. By wearing odd socks we celebrate individuality and inclusion while standing together.
The theme from the Anti-Bullying Alliance is Power for Good. We’ve looked at the roles around bullying and learned about the 6 roles involved in bullying:
- ringleader
- assistant
- reinforcer
- bystander or outsider
- target
- defender
PE: gymnastics
Gymnastics is giving the children a chance to try a totally different sport this half term. They’ve been exploring different ways that they can travel around the hall using different parts of their bodies. This had to be done with confidence and control. We extended this further by introducing hoops and balls which they then had to incorporate into their sequence of movement. We then moved onto introducing equipment to their routines. A bench allowed the children to incorporate a balance into their routines and some groups challenged themselves by turning the bench upside down to make their balance even trickier. We talked about how to stay safe in gymnastics by removing our shoes and socks, carrying equipment safely and giving each other plenty of space. It was quite tricky to photograph their great routines but here’s a couple of the best.
Key Stage 2 – Penny Trail
UPDATE!
A total of £76.48 was raised. Thank you!
Today, KS2 enjoyed creating a penny trail using the money that was kindly donated to support the Willow Foundation.
Thank you to everyone who contributed.
We will announce next week how much money was raised.
