2025/26
Leeds Castle
We were lucky enough to spend the day exploring Leeds Castle, we had so much fun!
English
Have a look at our amazing character descriptions!
Teeth and Digestion
For our next learning experience, Sycamores will be learning about the different types of teeth and their uses. We will look at carnivores, herbivores and omnivores and the types of teeth they have. We will then use our learning to create salt dough models of the different types of teeth. We will also be looking at the layers of a tooth and see the effects of plaque on the enamel. We will then move onto digestion by looking at the different stages and organs involved before modelling the digestive system.
Tooth decay experiment.
We recreated the digestive system!
Have a look at our replicas of the different types of teeth!
Reading Challenge
We visited Cherry Tree Class to complete one of our reading challenges, which is to read to a Year R child. Both classes had a great time enjoying the stories and made new friends!
Omar Stories!
Have a look at our amazing Omar-inspired comic-style stories.
Apple Trees Visited!
We had the pleasure of Apple Trees coming to visit our classroom so we could read their story 'the colour monster' to them! This is the second time we have read with Apples and Sycamore Trees have been so kind and lovely to the little ones, which has been wonderful to watch!
Christians
During this learning experience, Sycamores will learn 'fingertip knowledge' which includes: the religion, the followers, the deity, the sacred text and the place of worship. We will then explore the big story of the bible before moving onto looking at and understanding life as a journey, the important milestones and how Christians celebrate them. We will also be looking at how Christians use the bible to guide, comfort and inspire them in daily life. To enhance our learning even further, we will be visiting Canterbury Cathedral.
We had a fantastic trip to Canterbury Cathedral! The children's behaviour was impeccable, and they asked so many brilliant questions and were thoroughly engaged throughout!
Block Printing
In this learning experience, we will be taking inspiration from the artists Claire Willberg, Kevork Mourad and Shepard Fairey. We will then practise block printing by carving out a design on foam and experimenting on a range of materials. Finally, we will create our final design and block print onto a wooden square as our final product.
Look at our final prints!
We then experimented printing on a range of materials and using different colours and pressure.
We explored the artist and annotated their work.
Paddington Fact Files!
Sycamores worked incredibly hard on their Paddington Fact Files! I am super proud of their published versions!
12 Days of Christmas!
The Christmas Fair was a firm favourite!
We invited parents in, to join our Glockenspiel lesson!
We had a fantastic morning making Christmas crafts!
We visited the Christmas Shop to buy presents for our family and friends.
We thoroughly enjoyed the treasure hunt!
Living Things
For this learning experience, we will be looking at living things and their habitats, grouping and classifying animals and plants and looking at the human impact on habitat changes. We will be building on the prior knowledge we have learnt through the rainforest learning experience.
We looked at a range of animals and grouped them in different ways and was able to justify our reasons.
Reading
As part of our reading lessons this week and to improve our fluency when reading, we visited Apple Trees. We read their book, 'How to catch a star' by Oliver Jeffers to them and then acted out key parts. We had a fantastic time and have invited Apples to join us next term to listen to another story.
Rainforests
During this learning experience we will be discovering where rainforests are located in the world, the four different layers, deforestation and climate change. We will be investigating how humans have impacted this and what we can do to make a difference to our planet. As part of our learning, we will be visiting Wingham Wildlife Park!
We had a fantastic day at Wingham. The children were a real credit to the school and didn't complain about the rain or cold! I was very proud of Sycamores!
We learnt about the different animals that live in the rainforest and created a food chain.
We then destroyed our rainforest through deforestation.
We created the different layers of the rainforest.
Healthy Eating
In this first learning experience, we will be learning about the importance of healthy eating. Over the course of the week, we will be looking at the healthy eating plate and understanding what each meal needs to be healthy. We will also be looking at how our lunch boxes can be healthy and how to find out the calories in foods. Finally, we will be creating our own three-course healthy meal!
Water Colour (Landscape)
In this final learning experience of the term, we will be creating a piece of art inspired by a range of artists known for their landscape pieces. We will start by using some of those as inspiration and annotating the pieces of art. We will then create our own landscapes using primary and secondary sources, which will help us identify scale and proportion. We will then practise a range of brush techniques as well as colour manipulation. Finally, we will use all of our knowledge to create our own landscape using watercolours.
Have a look at our final masterpieces!
We then practised different painting techniques.
We learnt lots of different brush techniques that we could then appy to our final piece.
We then went up to the field to do some primary sketching of a landscape.
We used different pictures of art by John Klee, Georgia O'Keeffe and David Hockney and annotated them, drawing on the colour, shapes and textures used, as well as the composition, how it made us feel and what techniques we might use in our own landscape picture.
Electricity
During this learning experience, Sycamores will be looking at the different types of appliances that use electricity, either through the main supply or a cell battery. We will then discuss the rules of being safe around electricity. We will then explore circuits and how a complete circuit is needed for electricity to pass through it. Finally, we will investigate whether different materials conduct electricity.
We investigated different circuits and labelled reasons as to why it was a complete or incomplete circuit.
We created circuits.
After sorting, we identified a range of electrical issues and explained how we can be safe.
We independently sorted different appliances and gave reasons why.
Online Relationships and Being Safe
For our next learning experience, we will be looking at online relationships and how to stay safe whilst online. We will begin by having different scenarios to discuss and answer by deciding if they could be real or fake. We will then continue the discussions by learning how we can build a digital safety shield when online. Finally, we will be understanding the importance of being able to speak up and asking for help when it is needed.
Online Relationships and Being Safe
We created leaflets on everything we had learnt about staying safe online.
Ancient Egypt
During this learning experience, Sycamores will answer the key enquiry of, 'What did the Ancient Egyptians believe?' This will lead us to explore different themes such as: Who were the Egyptians, and when did they live? Who were the Gods and Goddesses? How did they build the Pyramids? How and why did they mummify people? These questions should lead us to being able to answer the key enquiry. As part of the experience, we will be visiting Maidstone Museum!
We looked at the importance of the River Nile to the Ancient Egyptians and created a fact file.
We then learnt about the Ancient Egyptian Gods and Goddesses.
We recreated the Mummification process!
We had a fantastic time visiting Maidstone Museum, learning about the mummification process and making Canopic jars before exploring the different exhibitions on offer!
