2023/2024

Healthy Eating and Cooking
PSHE and DT - Term 5

During the first week, we will be looking at healthy eating and what makes a balanced diet. As well as understanding what nutrients we need for our bodies and understanding the nutritional information on packets. During the second week, we will be tasting, cooking and assembling our own pasta salads to fulfil a set brief of a balanced healthy meal.

As part of a balanced diet, we know it is important to eat lots of different fruits and vegetables. We tasted a range of vegetables.

As a class, we collected empty food packaging, We found the food label on it and analysed the nutritional content of it. We looked at the fat, salt, sugar and saturate content and the calories. We applied our knowledge from the NHS guidelines to colour code some blank food labels.

We started by looking at 'Why we need food?', the nutrients we find in food and understanding the eat well guide..

Money
PSHE - Term 5

For this learning experience, we learnt about 'where money comes from' and explored the different ways to save money. We discussed needs and wants and how they impacted people's decisions to spend or save. To finish our learning, we looked at where to keep our money and how to keep it safe.

During the week, the children were working hard to earn and save enough money to spend on a £5 treat at the end of the week. Chestnuts used their maths skills to budget and count their money. They did a great job some managed to earn and save up to £8.50. Chestnuts enjoyed their treat.

To finish our learning, we looked at ways to keep money safe and where to put it. We played an interactive famae called 'Keep Helen's money safe' to consolidate this learning.

After discussing needs and wants, children create their own list of wants and also learnt ways to save money and make choices about whether to save or spend. We used an interactive game called Super Savers to get a better understanding of savings.

We began by looking at types of money, what an income is, and where the money comes from.

Ancient Greece
Term 5 - History

For this learning experience, we stepped back into Ancient Greek times. We had two main enquiries - finding out about life in Ancient Greek times and deciding whether we can thank the Greeks for anything in our lives today.

Our second enquiry looked into the legacies of the Ancient Greeks. Using sources and researching on iPads we looked at language and the Greek alphabet, the government and the Olympics. We discussed how these have changed over time and their impact.

We used sources and our own research on iPads to find out why Alexander the Great is known as one of the best Kings in history.

We discussed the use of primary and secondary sources. Using our understanding of the different types of sources we analysed them to understand more about what life was like in the Ancient Greek period.

We began looking at the location of Greece, investigating a map of modern Greece and Ancient Greece, as well as looking at their timeline.

Coasts and the Water Cycle
Term 4 - Geography

For this learning experience, we began looking at the question, 'Why do puddles disappear?'. This research led us to learn about the water cycle. After this, we looked at our coastline and the coastal processes that have been taking place here.

We finished the learning experience with a trip to Broadstairs Beach, where we saw the coastal landforms we could see and what activities people were doing at the beach. We visited Botany Bay and Viking Bay to allow us to compare both of them.

Video Editing
Term 4 - Computing

In our next learning experience, we will be learning how to use iMovie to create and edit a short video prospectus of our school. We will be using the persuasive techniques we have learnt in English and the computing skills we will develop to showcase what makes our school so great.

Have a look at our finished school tours/prospectus.

We went around school to get our action shots. We decided that posed and staged photos were better than random ones.

We began practising our video editing skills, by making mini-videos of our classroom and library.

We began by exploring the Imovie app, specifically looking at Magic movie.

Sound
Term 4 - Science

This week, we have explored how we hear and how sound travels. We used this knowledge to investigate what sound waves look like for loud and quiet sounds and for high pitch and low pitch sounds. We investigated which class was the loudest, and we explored the pitch of different instruments to identify key features that affect the sound produced.

After looking at volume, we used the Ardiuno app to measure the pitch of instruments.

We visited other classrooms using the Ardiuno app to measure the volume of classrooms.

We looked at the diagram of the ear to see how it works.

We made string telephones to see how sound travels.

Recorders
Term 4 - Music

Later, we began to compose our own music pieces in groups.

We began by learning the notes B,A,G and learnt to read and perform 'Hot Cross Buns'.

During this learning experience, we will look at music notation and begin to read pieces of music and understand the representation of notes, D,C, B, A, G on the stave. We will then use this knowledge to compose and perform our piece of music using these notes.

Networking
Term 3 - Computing

In this learning experience, we learnt about how computers are connected and what devices make up a computer network. We modelled this practically to support our understanding.

Lastly, we looked at how webpages are viewed across the internet. We modelled the role of clients, domain network servers, routers and servers.

We modelled a network that is made up of wired connections and wireless connections, we looked at how files are retrieved from the server and sent to computers and wireless devices such as laptops via the network switch and wireless access point.

We began by learning how messages are sent through a computer network.

We dicovered that this was decided inefficient and confusing as people each other where ignoring eachother and were busy trying to send messages in different directions. We added a network switch, that could move and send messages directly to the person. We realised this was very effective.

'Sinking our teeth into Digestion'
Term 3 - Science

To end our learning experience, we pretended to be dentists and instructed our partners where they needed to brush and created posters with top tips.

After our first experiment, we thought of questions we could investigate next, such as different types of drinks, high sugar vs low sugar. We discussed and planned our own experiment and made some predictions. Have a look at how it turned out.

Next, we looked at the digestive system. We did a practical which helped us visualise the function of each part of the digestive system. It got very messy but it was great fun!

We learnt new keywords in a food chain, such as producer and consumer, and sorted animals into their food chain, labelling the producer, consumers, predators and prey.

Our first egg experiment allowed us to see the effects of different liquids on the eggshells which acted as the enamel on our teeth. We used this experiment to help us decide what we wanted to investigate next. We observed the effects of coca-cola, water, vinegar and orange juice.

After looking at human teeth, we looked at animal skulls, especially at their teeth, noticing different types. This promoted discussion about their diet and what type of teeth they need to eat depending on whether they are an omnivore, herbivore or carnivore.

We began this learning experience by looking at the structure of teeth and the different types. We drew our own diagrams to find out what teeth are made of.

Block Printing
Term 3 - Art

Have a look at our final pieces.

We practised carving designs onto printing foam and designed sketches inspired by Christian symbols for our final piece.

We began the learning experience by exploring the media and experimenting with printing on different materials.

Christianity
Term 3 - RE

In this learning experience we will be answering the key questions 'Why is the Bible important for Christians today?, 'Why do some people think life is a journey?' and 'What can we learn from Christianity about deciding right or wrong?'. We will also be visiting All Saints Church in Maidstone, to see how the place of worship is used for Christians to mark life milestones.

We finished our learning by answering the key questions for our palm knowledge.

After we thought about what our important milestones have been or what they might be in the future.

We looked at Christian milestones and recreated an infant baptism in class, as well as looking at the promises made during a Christian wedding ceremony.

We looked at the commitments some Christians make to God, specially focusing on the different types of baptism.

We also had the opportunity to visit All Saints Church in Maidstone, which allowed the children to see another place of worship in their local community.

To start the learning experience, Katharine from Crossteach came in to deliver a session about 'Why the Bible is important for Christians'. The children had great discussions and looked at interpreting Bible passages.

In Tune with Tarzan
Term 2 - Music

To finish the term, we explored improvising and composing our music. We used the songs 'You'll be in my heart' and 'Trashin the camp' from the film Tarzan to perform, appraise and inspire us to compose our own music.

As groups, we composed our own piece of music to replicate the 'Trashin of the Camp'.

We watched the 'Trashin the camp' scene from the film to inspire us to create our own short pieces of music, thinking about the length of the beats and what sounds we could create. We explored using body percussion, using our voices and using different objects to create sounds.

We appraised and performed 'You'll be in my heart' by Phil Collins. We identified the verses and chorus and discussed musical elements such as tempo pitch and the dynamics.

Animal Classification
Term 2 - Science

We used Ipads to complete classification keys. After that, we created our own classification questions and created some in groups, then applied all our knowledge to make our own.

MRS GREN reminded us of the living processes and helped us sort things into alive, dead and never alive. After this we used our knowledge of living things and created our own groups to classify animals.

We started the learning experience with a visit from Jack from Zoolab, who brought some cool animals and discussed their characteristics.

Sustainability
Term 2 - PSHE

Chestnuts have been learning all about sustainability this week, after learning about the impacts of climate change we focussed specifically on plastic pollution.

We finished our learning by presenting a plastic pollution assembly to other classes, we created some posters to display.

We had a fun plastic workshop with ecoActive.

33%

We learnt how hard it is for birds to eat without eating plastic and we also learnt about single-use plastics and gave some old plastic a new life.

We made connections about the impacts of climate changed and linked them to make a chain, we realised that lots were interconnected.

Tree-mendous Rainforests
Term 2 - Geography

Through this learning experience we will learn about tropical rainforests. Starting by looking at the different biomes and then using map work to locate tropical and temperate rainforests. We will have the opportunity to go to the BBC Earth Experience in London, which will help us to create and build our own rainforests.

To conclude our learning, we created our own rainforests and looked at the effects of deforestation on the rainforests and made a promise tree to help the earth.

The BBC Earth Experience was amazing. We travelled across all seven continents and saw lots of the ecosystems found in them.

We used Ipads to find research about Biomes, layers of the rainforest and used maps and atlases to locate rainforests.

Wondrous Watercolours
Term 1 Art

For this learning experience we will be using watercolours and exploring them to finally create our own landscape paintings.

For our final pieces we incorporated all the techniques and skills we have learnt over the past weeks to create a landscape inspired by a picture of a landscape. There was a coastal landscape and two rural landscapes.

We went to Mote Park to sketch a landscape. Afterwards, we painted it using the watercolour techniques we learnt.

We looked at two watercolour artists, Georgia O'Keefe and Paul Klee. We analysed their paintings to see which techniques they used.

Understanding the effects watercolour has on different media is important, so we spent time investigating the different materials and how we could use them to create different outcomes. We experimented with foil, kitchen roll, cardboard, leaves, grass, tracing paper.

After understanding how the type of strokes affects the paint, we looked at colours, creating gradients and layering colours.

We began by learning how to hold the painting brush correctly and creating different strokes by applying different methods.

Online Safety and Relationships
Term 1 PSHE

We learnt all about keeping and staying safe online this week. What online relationships might look like and the boundaries we should set ourselves whilst being online.

We annotated the Greenbook page identifying the parts that should be removed and that are unsafe. We also looked at different scenarios and discussed what we should do.

Get Ethel-Raedy for the Saxons
Term 1 History

After learning about the story of the Battle of Hastings and how Anglo-Saxon rule came to an end, we created our own comic strips to capture this historic battle.

We acted out the battle scenes from the Bayeux tapestry.

Using sources, we investigated what weapons and warfare tactics the Anglo-Saxons used. The Bayeux tapestry was very useful for this.

We learnt about some great kings from the time, and we debated which was the best. Afterwards, we used the ipads to create our own factfile, either on King Athelstan or Alfred the Great.

We then looked at what life was like for the Anglo-Saxons. We designed our own Anglo-Saxon Villages and looked at their jobs and hierarchy within the village.

The country became seven Kingdoms, due to all their fighting.

We looked at the invasion of the Anglo-Saxons and recreated this in our classroom. Did you know they were made up of three tribes, the Angles, the Jutes and the Saxons.

We will look at various sources and artefacts to discover what life was like for the Anglo-Saxons. We will also learn the importance of Canterbury Cathedral to the Anglo-Saxons.

We investigated some artefacts, asking key questions such as 'What do you think it is?' and 'Who may have used it?'

We looked at chronology and sorted ourselves into a chronological order of key events in history, and then we created our own Anglo-Saxon timelines.

We kicked off our Learning Experience with a visit to Canterbury Cathedral. We learnt all about the Anglo-Saxon King, King Ethelbert, his wife Bertha and how the Anglo-Saxons converted to Christianity.

We found King Ethelbert and Queen Bertha's statues at the entrance of the Cathedral.

We dressed up and went on a trail to the Cathedral, finding important areas and discovering important stories. We became King Ethelbert, Queen Bertha, St Augustine, St Alphege, Monks, Thorkall the Tall and his Vikings.

We reacted some of the stories we heard after lunch.

In the Cathedral we learnt that the Canterbury Cross is inspired by an Anglo-Saxon brooch. We also saw lots of stained-glass windows that told stories from the past. We got to make our own Canterbury Crosses and stained-glass windows.