2020/21

This term, Palm Trees will be learning about World War II. They will find out how it started, create a timeline using the significant dates and events. They will also discover how Britain kept itself safe through rationing, evacuation, the Blitz and the battle of Britain. Finally, they will use all their knowledge to create a documentary using their computing skills.

For this experience, Palm Trees will be creating a piece of Abstract art based on the works of Joan Miro. They will be looking closely at different artists and what makes art abstract. They will also understand how colour can show mood and emotion. Palm Trees will be learning new skills on how to use different pencil and painting techniques. They will also learn how to annotate their sketch books and evaluate their ideas. Their final masterpiece will be painted onto a canvas!

To start this Learning Experience, Palm Trees will be tasting and evaluating existing cakes found in supermarkets or home made ones to discover what makes a good cupcake! They will then be taught a basic sponge recipe which will be adapted to create their own cupcakes within the theme of VE Day. They will be involved in a masterclass and learn different techniques to decorate their cupcakes using buttercream or fondant. Throughout this experience, Palm Trees will be given lots of opportunities to evaluate and reflect on their learning. 

To start this learning experience, Palm Trees will be having an interactive virtual workshop where they will be able to see the Solar System themselves through the iPads! The learning outcome will be to create a non-chronological report about Space. To do this we will be looking at the spherical nature of the Sun, Earth and Moon and exploring how we have day and night. As well as looking at the relationship between Earth and its Moon, we will also be investigating the other planets in the Solar System.

During this fizzing and bubbling experience, children will study the properties and changes of materials, including the different states (solids, liquids and gasses) and how this is evident within dissolving and mixing. They will also explore reversible and irreversible changes. The learning experience will progress with children being given the opportunity to explore and investigate the ‘fizzy nature’ of a bath bomb. They will experience a range of designs, scents and styles, noting how this could impact their own market research and its development into a saleable and appealing product. Finally, they will apply their skills and research to design, create and evaluate a unique bath bomb- it may even make the perfect Christmas gift!

To kick off our new geography learning experience, the children will have the opportunity explore Nepalese culture (including food!) before starting to explore its vast geographic features.  During the experience, we will explore the countries and oceans that surround Nepal  and discover how its human and physical features have generated an economy dominated by tourism! We'll also be exploring the town of Lumbini (birth place of Buddha) and comparing life there to life in Maidstone!

Testing materials for shaping and joining...

Once we had analysed the artefacts, we received our design brief (see picture below!). We then began to consider the materials we could use to create our artefacts, thinking carefully about what we could use to shape and join the materials. We investigated a range of materials and joining methods:

- Modroc vs strips of paper to create layers of bandages on a mummy.

- Wire vs card to create the structure beneath the mummy.

- Whether gluing or binding would secure the wood for the chair more effectively, and what type of glue was best.

- Different materials that could be used to create the seat covers on the chair.

- The slipping/scoring method vs gluing for joining clay.

- Pinch pots vs coiled pots.

After testing these materials, we then evaluated them and considered their effectiveness for our design brief.

Analysing Artefacts!

We began by looking at some artefacts from Ancient Egyptian burial chambers. We discussed what each object was, what it was made out of, how it was decorated, its purpose and what materials we would use to re-create it.

Important Settlements!

We have been learning all about The River Nile and how important it was to the Ancient Egyptians. Due to the hot, sandy, desert climate, settlements near the Nile were desirable. Take a look at some of the fantastic labelled drawings we created to show the many ways in which this famous river was essential to survival in Ancient Egypt. 🇪🇬 🌵☀️💦

Understanding Chronology!

We started the learning experience by looking at the chronology of Ancient Egypt. This means knowing key events of the era and when they happened. We created timelines to show this, explaining what happened at key points in the Ancient Egyptian period. Following this, we were given some key events from other periods of history: The Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages, Ancient Greece, The Indus Valley and The Romans. We noticed that lots of these events occurred at a similar time to what what happening in Egypt. We plotted these events on our timelines and summarised what happened. We also noticed that there were lots of similarities. For example, all periods created techniques for farming at similar times, Ancient Egypt and Greece both ended with the Roman invasion, and The Indus Valley used a script of symbols for writing, similar to Egyptian hieroglyphs.