2022/23

To start our final term, we will be revisiting Christianity, but this time we will be learning about praying in Christianity. We will look at why and how Christians pray, how Christians show their faith and what it means to be a good Christian today. We will finish the week by visiting our local church to learn more about prayer.

Please see the knowledge organiser for more information.

For this musical learning experience, we will be listening to and appraising music written by Spanish composers. We will learn musical terms to help us describe elements in the music we listen to.  We will then learn and perform a Spanish song from the film Coco. Take a look at our knowledge organiser for more information.

We learnt the song "Juanita" from Coco in Spanish! We spoke about how the tempo of this song was slow and the dynamics were soft, as well as the timbre of the instruments in the song being calming. We decided this was because the songs purpose was to help the character to get to sleep.  When performing, some of us chose instruments that made a calming and soft sound and some kept a pulse with these instruments. Here are our final performances!

For our next learning experience, we are going to delve far back in history and discover how people in the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age lived. We will be looking at each Age in turn, discovering where they lived, what their daily lives were like and the tools and weapons they used. We will then enhance this knowledge with a trip to Kent Life for a Stone Age to Iron Age themed day.

Take a look at the knowledge organiser below to find out more information.

We started off our new learning experience by looking at the timeline. We discovered that it is a huge time period but that it seems like not much happened. We discussed that because we are going so far back in history, some evidence hasn’t survived, so we may not have a complete picture of everything that happened over this time period. We looked at photographs of some items archaeologists have found to help us piece it altogether.

To kick start term 5, we will be looking at rocks! We will be learning about the different types of rocks and how they form.  We will be thinking about how we can compare them based on their appearance and their properties.  We will also be looking at soil composition and discover that rocks have a big part to play in the composition of soil! We will then look at fossils and how they form over thousands of years.  To round up this learning experience, we have the opportunity to go to the Natural History Museum in London to get more hands on learning! 

Take a look at our knowledge organiser below to find out more!

We explored rocks and their properties. We tested different rocks for their density, durability and permeability. We also observed some rocks and saw that the igneous rocks had crystals and the sedimentary rocks had layers!

We learnt how fossils are formed and some of the different types of fossils. We then had a go at creating our own mold fossils and then became palaeontologists to try to identify other groups’ fossils.

We had a close look at soil to try and discover what soil was made from. We found lots of rocks (big and small) in the soil, some leaves, some bugs and snail shells.  Back in the classroom, we discovered that soil is made of minerals (from rocks), dead plants and bugs, water and air.

We had a brilliant time at the Natural History Museum! We saw rocks, fossils, minerals, dinosaurs, bugs, stuffed birds, earthquakes and volcanoes! It was fascinating. Here are a few photos from our day.

Our fourth and final learning experience of term 4 is PSHE based and we will be learning about respectful relationships.  In this topic, we will look at:

• what a stereotype is and how we should be respectful to everyone regardless of their looks, likes or beliefs
• bullying and how we should respect others
• how to be respectful to others and ourselves, including having manners, being courteous and having self respect.

Have a look at our knowledge organiser below for more information.

Our next learning experience is Geography based.  We will be looking at different types of settlements, including a hamlet, a village, a town and a city, discussing their features and comparing similarities and differences between the different types.  We will then be looking at how the land is used in each of the types of settlements and looking at how the population is different in each settlement.  To consolidate our learning, we will be going on a trip to see all of the different types of settlements for ourselves and seeing if we can spot the features we looked at in class in real life!

Take a look at our knowledge organiser below to find out more.

We created different settlements using different construction blocks. We labelled the features in each settlement afterwards.  

We had a great time exploring Harrietsham, Canterbury and Whitstable! Here are some of the features we saw along the way.

We're already on our second learning experience of term 4! For this learning experience, we will be focussing on product design by designing and creating a light box.  We will be looking at existing products and evaluating them.  This evaluation will help us to design a questionnaire to conduct some market research to inform our design.  Once we have our results, we will analyse them and design our light box, explaining our choices and using the data to support our explanations.  Once we have completed our design, we will create our light box using cereal boxes with a push light in side. Once we have created them, we will evaluate them and think about what we would change if we were to create light boxes to sell.

Please see our knowledge organiser below for more information.

We started off by evaluating existing products. We said what we liked and disliked about each of them and why and then asked a question we would like to know about them.

Here are our final light boxes! We worked really hard to choose our design based on the market research we collected.

To start off term 4, we will be doing some Science! We will be looking at light and how it travels by experimenting with torches and mirrors! We will then look at shadows and how they are formed. We will think about which materials make shadows and why and why the size of shadows might change. Please take a look at our knowledge organiser for more information.

We did an experiment to investigate whether the length of a shadow changed depending on how close the light source was.  We found that the shadow got longer the further the light source was.  We noticed that our results were a little skewed due to not being able to make the classroom really dark.

For the rest of term 3, we will be creating sculptures! We will be comparing two different artists (Emily Motto and Antony Gormley) and using their ideas and techniques to create our own sculptures.  We will even be getting a visit from Emily Motto where she will share her inspiration and show us how she creates sculptures. We will work in groups to collect ideas, design and make our sculptures using recyclable materials and focussing on different ways of joining these materials to a wire armature. See our knowledge organiser below for more information.

First, we had a look at the work of Emily Motto and Antony Gormley.  We spoke about the colours used, their methods when constructing their sculptures, the materials they use and what we like and dislike about their work. We discovered that Emily Motto uses every day materials as well as materials that change throughout the time her sculptures are on display, such as bread dough and play dough. Antony Gormley creates a lot of his sculptures based on himself and often makes casts of his own body parts to create them!

We had a brilliant day with Emily Motto learning all about her style of sculpting and taking inspiration from her to create our own sculptures.  We used recycling and wire for our main base and added wool and paper for colour.  We thought about different ways to join our materials and found that tying wool as well as using masking take was effective. 

Here are our final sculptures that we created with Emily Motto!

Next, we took some inspiration from Emily Motto and Antony Gormley and chose materials we’d like to use to create our own sculptures to create a mood board. We then created a design of our sculptures using our mood board and thinking about the different ways we could join our chosen materials to our sculpture.

We started to create our wire armatures as our base for our sculpture. We all had a go at cutting the chicken wire, ensuring we were wearing gloves and goggles to stay safe! We then shaped our wire into a human shape.

We showed some fantastic teamwork to create our final sculptures.  We evaluated the best joining methods for different materials and problem solved well and adapted when things didn’t turn out how we planned them to.

Here are our final sculptures inspired by the artists Emily Motto and Antony Gormley.

Over the next couple of weeks, we are going to be looking at what different Christians believe about God.  We will be using different sources to discuss beliefs and ideas about God and what God means to different people.  We will also be looking at times when it may be difficult to have a faith but why faith is so important to some people. Have a look at our knowledge organiser for more information.

To start the new year, we will be looking at skeletons and muscles.  Before delving inside the body, we will be learning about what keeps our body healthy and what we can eat to make sure our bones and muscles stay strong.  Next, we will be looking at different types of skeletons across the animal kingdom and comparing them. After that, we will be taking a closer look at the skeleton of a human and the bones that make it up as well as how it is held together.  Finally, we will be learning about the importance of muscles in our body. Take a look at the knowledge organiser below to find out more!

To start our learning experience, we looked at different types on skeletons. Did you know that some animals don’t have a backbone? These are called invertebrates and make up 97% of all animals! We then looked at where different animals’ skeletons are. Some animals have endoskeletons (inside their body), some have exoskeletons (outside their body) and some have hydrostatic skeletons (no skeletons at all!).

Next, we had a look at the human skeleton.  We looked at the names of different bones in the human skeleton and where they were in our body.  Did you know that an adult has 206 bones in their body, but a baby has 270! Babies bones fuse together as they get older. Once we’d built the skeleton, we decided to have a go at putting the bones in the correct places on us!

For the rest of this term, we are going to be learning about forces.  First, we will explore different forces and how they work.  We will then focus on friction and carry out an investigation into which materials create the most and least friction.  We will then look in detail at magnets.  We will discover that magnets have two different poles and look at how they interact with each other and other materials, comparing this interaction with friction. We will then investigate which materials are magnetic.  Have a look at our knowledge organiser below!

First, we explored different objects and observed how they moved. We discussed that the objects were demonstrating how different forces worked. We discovered that objects with smaller surface areas did not have as much air and water resistance, objects that were light floated and rougher objects were harder to push along the table and so had more friction.

Next, we took a closer look at friction and how it affects different objects moving across surfaces. We conducted an experiment to find out which material would be best to go down a slide on. We were surprised to find out that a lack sack was better than a blanket, but decided it was because a black sack always completely smooth so must conduct less friction. The rubber mat had the most friction (in fact, we never got to the bottom of the slide!). 

Next, we experimented with magnets. We wanted to see if magnets could attract other magnets through other materials and at a distance. We found they could, but if the material was too thick or if the distance is too great it didn’t work. We thought maybe if the magnet was bigger it may be more powerful so we’re going to test that another day! 

After our last experiment, we wanted to know whether the size of the magnet affected its strength, so we tested to see how many paper clips we could make a chain with using the magnets! The longer the chain, the stronger the magnet. We found that the largest magnet was too strong to create much of a chain because it kept pulling all of the paper clips to it, so although it didn’t make the longest chain, we decided it was the strongest. We also fund that the smallest magnets held the most paperclips, suggesting they were the strongest, however we discussed that the shape of them may have made a difference.

The focus of this learning experience is the Romans.  We will be looking at where in history the Roman Empire was and the chronology of major events during the Roman Empire.  We will then bee looking at how the Roman Empire spread across Europe, including the invasion of Britain, as well as important military figures during this time.  We will then have a look at what life was like as a Roman, including their jobs and where they lived.  Finally we will be looking at how the Roman Empire in Britain has had a lasting impact on life today.  Throughout this experience, we will be using a range of historical sources to look at evidence of the Roman Empire. 

Take a look at our documents below.

To kick start our learning experience, we had a Roman day! First, we learnt about the timeline of the Roman empire, from when Rome was built by Romulus and Remus (according to legend) in 753BC, all the way to the fall of the Roman empire in 455AD. Next, we learnt about different Roman artefacts - did you know that the ancient Romans didn't have toilet roll and they used a sea sponge on the end of a stick instead? Yuk! Luckily, the artefact we had was only a replica! Then we learnt about how the Roman's worshipped different Gods.  A lot of their Gods have the same names as planets, for example Mars (who was the God of war). We found out that later in the Roman empire they changed their beliefs and Christianity became the religion of the Roman empire.  Next, we had a quiz to learn about different aspects of Roman life.  We learnt that Romans lived in different buildings according to their wealth and that most houses didn't have a toilet or a bath (unless they were really wealthy), so they visited public baths instead. Finally, we learnt about the myth of Romulus and Remus (the twins who are said to have founded Rome) and we acted it out.  We had great fun!

The focus of this learning experience will be Geography.  To start, we will be looking at the continents and oceans of the world before zooming in to look at countries and cities in Europe.  We will then be zooming in further to look at the countries, cities and counties in the UK and, in particular, London.  We will visit London to explore and experience landmarks and look at physical and human features in the city.  We will then turn our focus to Rome, look at the landmarks and features of this Italian city and do a comparison with London.  Please look at the documents below for more information.

We used an atlas to help us locate countries in Europe and label them on a map.  We then used the key on the map of Europe to help us locate the cities of the countries we labelled.

To learn about the landmarks in London, and in particular the ones along the River Thames, we built the landmarks and used a map to accurately place them along the River Thames.

We went on a trip to London! We drove to North Greenwich on the mini buses and got the tube to Waterloo.  It was very noisy on the tube and we had to hold on tight, but we loved it! We then had a trip on the London Eye - we were so high up, we could almost see he whole of London! We spotted lots of landmarks from the top. Back on the ground, we had lunch and played in the park. Then, we went in a boat along the River Thames and learnt more about some of the landmarks. We had a brilliant day!