Autumn Term 2

Autumn 2 in Phase 3

 

General blurb

We have had a very busy Autumn 2 in Phase 3, which included two fantastic trips. The children loved joining the London Symphony Orchestra to celebrate and learn about Diwali, and found our trip to the Imperial War Museum fascinating. It was particularly special to see the installation, which featured Windrush collages from many of our Year 6s.

 

English

We started our term by looking at imagery in war poetry, focusing on For the Fallen by Laurence Binyon, and then moved on to compare Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 and Wordsworth’s Daffodils. Through these different forms of poetry, pupils were able to explore poetic structures, themes and devices, as well as express their personal preferences.

During the middle of the term, we studied first person stories with a moral, focusing particularly on The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Pupils worked towards writing their own story, which contained the moral that if we lie, we will no longer be believable. Along the way, we explored how to describe and develop characters and settings in detail to engage the reader, how to use dialogue to convey character, and how to balance action, description and dialogue in narrative writing. The children wrote some beautiful stories, and we were so impressed with their creativity in exploring how to convey this moral in an engaging way.

                                           

As the term drew to a close, we moved on to writing explanatory texts about the human timeline, a topic the children were learning about in Science. This shift to non-fiction writing enabled the children to gain practice using organisational and presentational devices (such as subheadings and bullet points) to organise their writing, and including technical vocabulary to convey an expert voice. We also explored the use of simple present and present progressive tenses, as well as revisiting the passive verb form. Some children even challenged themselves to publish their work using laptops.

 

Reading

We began this half-term by reading the beautifully illustrated book, ‘How to Live Forever’ by Colin Thompson. We used this as our stimulus to help us structure our responses to a story.

We are currently reading ‘Boy in the Tower’ by Polly Ho Yen - the children are really enjoying the text.

They have focused on comparing text, their personal responses supported by evidence, how an author uses speech to develop the story, summarising what they have read and finally, how an advertisement is used explicitly and implicitly.

 

Maths

This Autumn term, our Year 5 and 6s embarked on an exciting mathematical adventure delving into the intricacies of decimal tenths and hundredths. It all began with a hands-on, practical approach, which allowed them to engage their learning and understanding.

They developed their understanding by investigating pictorial representations. Before finally, showing how their learning can be applied using numerical concepts and being able to apply to reading number lines and graphs.

         

 

Science

This term in Phase 3, our Science topic - Animals including Humans, focused on the human timeline. Children learnt about the distinct stages of human development, from embryo to late adulthood, and compared the human gestational period and lifespan to that of other animals. We particularly enjoyed working scientifically to collect comparative growth data. For example, the children hypothesised that the older children in the class would be taller, and we measured this by lining up in age order and observing any patterns that emerged.

 

Geography

What an exciting half-term this has been. The children have been exposed to CUSP Geography for the first time and have used atlases to explore physical features of continents. They have learnt about biomes and the different conditions plants and animals thrive in. 

In November, all three classes went to the Imperial War Museum to see the work Year 6s completed with the author Kandace Chimbiri. We were very lucky to have a workshop organised by the Museum, see our work displayed as an exhibition and to be gifted with some of the children’s work that can be displayed in our school.

        

 

Art and design

The children have created some wonderful art this half-term.  They completed a series of still life paintings, combined with collage. They looked at the still life work of Patrick Caufield and compared it to the cubism work of Pablo Picasso.

                                       

              

RE 

In RE, we have been focusing on Sikhism. We have reminded ourselves of the core values in Sikhism and learnt all about the Gurdwara. We have explored different aspects of the Gurdwara, including the Langar Kitchen, which shows the Sikh values of service and equality.

 

      

 

PSHE

Autumn 2 in Sudbourne has seen the whole school consider how we can celebrate differences between each other. For Phase 3, this involved exploring our own and each other’s cultures, as well as looking at how these differences can lead to bullying or discriminatory behaviour. The children were encouraged to consider their own responsibilities in ensuring each and every person’s differences can be a source of celebration and learning rather than conflict, and they came up with some beautiful suggestions for what they can personally do to celebrate and support those around them. This tied in perfectly with our whole school activities around anti-bullying week, and odd socks day prompted some great discussions about how some differences are easy to observe, while others may be hidden.