6B

Continuing our journey around the world this week, 6B have been learning about the continent of South America and the Amazon rainforest. The children have looked at where South America is located in the world and have focused on finding out about rainforest habitats.

They have learned about different carnivores, herbivores and omnivores and worked in teams to fit the animals into food chains. The children have then described their food chains, using their ICT skills to record sentences onto the electronic storyboards, before writing their descriptions in their workbooks. The children have also thought about planning an Amazon safari, planning out routes to see different animals depending on the best times of the day to see each one and showing these times – at o’clock, half past and quarter past – on blank clock faces. As well as this they have thought about how to measure time using minutes and seconds, and taken part in a number of different jungle-related activities, estimating how long they expected each activity to take them to complete and then timing themselves with stopwatches.

The children have used different shades of green and brown paint with a range of objects and materials to print a rainforest scene and added different Amazon animals to it. They have used books and news reports to research the Amazon rainforest and have used this information to create a storyboard script to record their own news reports on the school cameras, with a particular focus on the damage being done to the rainforest by humans

Thinking about popular food from South American countries, 6B have cooked their own tortillas and safely chopped vegetables to make some tasty fajitas this week in the cookery room. As well as this the children have practised their reading and spelling in phonics and continued learning how to work together as a team through social games and activities.

This week the children of class 6B have been learning about the continent of Australasia, and thinking about the Great Barrier Reef, have learned all about coral reef habitats.

They have done some research to create powerpoint presentations showing where Australasia is in the world and some of the different animals and creatures you would be likely to find living there. The children have talked about the animals’ needs, and used food webs to determine whether each creature is a carnivore, herbivore or omnivore. They have begun to learn about using food chains, and have created their own coral reef-based chain, practicing writing sentences at the appropriate level.

6B have also been thinking about capacity and volume this week. They have measured out amounts of water to plan out how much would be needed for each animal’s different home, comparing and ordering the amounts. Some of the children have even begun to write down their measures using the sign for millilitres. To end the week the children have continued practicing their measuring skills by making delicious tropical island juice cocktails as a Friday reward for their hard work!

In addition to all this, the children have used mixed media to create wonderful coral reef scenes. They have used glue and torn paper to make 3D corals, painting these with vibrant colours like a real life coral reef, and have created coral reef animals using coloured card. Drawing out the shapes and cutting them out, then adding detail to them with pencil and pen to bring their scenes to life. 6B have also done their one-to-one reading daily, carried on with individualised phonics activities and practiced turn-taking and managing relationships in their social skills activities.

Continuing our journey around the world and through the seven continents, this week class 6B have moved from Africa to Asia where they have learned about mountain habitats and the people and animals inhabiting them.

The children have focused in on the country of Nepal this week where the Himalayas are. They began the week by thinking about Mount Everest and how they would manage on an expedition there. The children talked about the equipment they would need and what would be the most important for their own expedition up the mountain, before making a shopping list of items they would need and practicing their money skills to add up how much it would cost them. Reading the story Chandra’s Magic Light gave the children an insight into life in a village in the mountains of Nepal, where they were able to compare it with their own lives at home. The children talked about how life is different for the girls in the story to their own, and drew images of what life would be like living in Nepal. The children then wrote about their images and living in the mountains, linking their sentences to the story.

The children have also learned about some of the animals that live in the Himalaya Mountains such as the snow leopard, mountain goat and golden eagle. They have talked about what animal adaptations are, and considering what it is like in a mountain habitat, have thought about how the different animals are adapted to life in the Himalayas. The children have then created their own mountain-adapted creature and shared their work with their peers, explaining how their animal is adapted to living in the mountains. As well as this 6B have used a food web to consider which animals are carnivores, herbivores and omnivores, and have written facts about which animal eats what.

In addition, the children have had a go at building homes in the school garden, thought about another Asian country – China – for cookery to make a healthy stir fry and try some other foods like prawn crackers, spring rolls and prawn toast, taken part in speaking and listening games and have practiced their reading, spelling and writing in regular reading and phonics sessions.

This term’s theme in school is homes and habitats, and so to go with this, class 6B are going to be doing a round-the-world trip (of sorts!) in the 30 days we are in school this term. Each week we are going to be learning about a different continent and one of the key habitats there, looking at how animals have adapted to survive there. This week we have been learning about Africa and the grassland habitats there.

The children have written descriptive sentences about different African animals, and they have learned about the difference between carnivores herbivores and omnivores. Using this information, they created Top Trump style cards about different carnivores, herbivores and omnivores. They have practiced using the months of the year with calendars, and worked out a schedule for a round the world trip, making sure to visit each continent for a certain number of days. They have also solved time problems, adding up the number of hours it would take for each leg of the way when planning a safari adventure around Africa.

6B have created some wonderful African scenes, blending colours to paint a sunset-sky background and adding silhouettes of animals and grassland scenery. As well as this, they have practiced their life skills by learning to make beds in the school house, and cooking up some African treats – savoury chapatis and sweet kashata treats – as well as preparing and trying some African fruits like pineapple, passion fruit, papaya and melon.

This week, 6B have been thinking a bit about the future. We’ve read the story A Superhero Like You, which is all about different jobs some people do. The children have talked about the different jobs – which ones they would like to do and what they want from their jobs in the future. We’ve also had a visit from a police officer this week, for which the children wrote some interview questions, some of them practicing the use of question marks and testing their questions out on each other. The children got to ask the police officer all sorts of things about his job, and found out loads of information about being in the police – some of them even got to try on a police helmet and handcuffs!

6B have practiced their reading, writing and spelling in phonics activities as usual, and we’ve had some time to carry out sensory play and team-building activities. The children have also practiced their social skills in turn taking and speaking & listening games. The children have started thinking about our topic for next half term, homes and habitats, and by using Google and some information about the continents, 6B have made lists of countries that they would like to learn about when we return from the half term break.

We’ve recapped the healthy meal plate this week, and the children have made their own healthy sandwiches so that if they’re hungry over half term, they can make a snack for themselves! The children have all worked really hard this half term so hopefully they’ll have a nice and relaxing break and come back refreshed for our final term!

This week 6B have finished off putting together their newspapers about Captain Sir Tom Moore. We have continued reading the story of his life, and the children used it to inspire some pieces of work to put into their papers.
They have created information maps of the world, using Google maps to identify where Captain Tom visited when he was in the army and learned a little more about his past life, writing sentences about the places he saw and visited. They’ve also created a model of a countryside scene with their own miniature Captain Toms riding a motorbike, and have taken photographs of this to use in their newspapers.
The children have continued practicing subtraction in maths, applying their knowledge of subtraction to solving word problems, and in phonics the children have continued working on reading, spelling and writing with their targeted sounds. The children have made a vegetable bolognese in cookery and we have had a big emphasis on speaking and listening activities this week, with the children taking part in lots of activities and games to practice their listening, turn-taking and interaction skills.

This week 6B have continued thinking about modern people we admire, and have started reading about the life of Captain Sir Tom Moore with a view to making their own newspaper over the next couple of weeks. The children have learned about his childhood growing up in Keighley, and thought about how his life as a child 90 years ago compared to their own nowadays. They have found key information from the text about Sir Tom, and used this to begin typing up a newspaper article about his life. The children will continue to research Sir Tom’s life next week, and will create various pieces to put together for their own newspaper.

In art this week 6B have looked at recycling newspaper and using it to create a picture of a natural scene that Sir Tom Moore might have seen as a child exploring the North York Moors, and in cookery they have used fresh British fruit to make a traditional fruit crumble pudding, showing excellent safety skills while using sharp knives and the oven. As well as this, the children have continued with phonics and handwriting as usual, and have spent time thinking about what makes good teamwork and practicing these skills in teambuilding activities.