Upper Primary News
Although we know that many pupils tell their parents all about what they having been studying and doing at school, not every child is so forthcoming. Therefore so that you all know what your child has been up to in the last term and what plans there are for next term, you can now visit this new page providing the latest news from the Upper Primary Class. This page is updated each term.
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If you have any specific queries concerning this class or your child please speak to or email the form tutor Lorraine.
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Also See
Spring Term 2019
PSHE
We enjoy starting our sessions with quiet sitting/body mind awareness and once termly we will do our sharing circle and work/play/home reviews. We will also be learning about the wonders of male anatomy - following on from last month's female body celebrations. We will also explore sex and gender.
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English Language
This terms sees an emphasis on paragraph development with focus around the development and extension of ideas expressed through a range of sentence types and other language structures.
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English Literature
Our study of "Goodnight Mr Tom' continues as our class reader with many of the class, now actively choosing to read aloud longer pieces of text.
Maths
We will be recapping and revising some maths skills this term. We'll be learning about area, perimeter and volume soon, moving on to more complex geometry before Easter.
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Science
Ash has just got back from a trip to East Africa, and will use some of the insights from his visit to start conversations about healthy diets and lifestyles.
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From the 3rd week of term, we will also be studying Earth Science and Evolution topics, in preparation for our exciting visit to the Oxford University Museum of Natural History on Monday 11th February. (Letter to follow!)
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Science Theory
This term we will be studying the different types of galaxies and then zooming in to contemplate the stunning beauty of nebulae, the mysteries of black holes and the creation of solar systems.
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History
This term sees our focus shift towards The Iron Age with specific reference to Britain and Western Europe, including the influence of The Celts.
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Geography
We have started an important unit of work look at maps and learning the skills needed to read maps.
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DT
Moving on from the children's most successful miniature tree house project we will be making the most of any dry weather to get their large tree house in the garden finished. Fingers crossed the sun keeps shining and our timber has time to dry out a little! We also have some fine tuning to be getting on with on our go-kart. We will be having planning meetings, in which we will make an action plan of works and possible projects to be carried out in the coming weeks. I will be offering up the idea of 'toys with a mechanism' and 'board games'. Will they go for the idea though?!
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Music
Learning a simple tune all together on the school keyboards. Continuing our excellent singing practise, and working in a two part harmony. Homework will be set occasionally around our class work.
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Art
For the first part of this term we will be finishing off the Van Gogh project - embellished felt work and painting clay sunflowers.
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We will then be starting a new theme which will look at 'Pattern and Texture'. Using drawings, rubbings, mixed media and print, we will be recording observations and developing these into a final piece.
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Spanish
This term we will be looking at Hispanic Traditions (Dia de Reyes - 6th January); have an introduction to basic reading; Family members; Clothes; Pets; All about me - revision and finally Food and Drink.
Autumn Term 2018
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Music
Looking at the nature of music scores and writing our own text based scores. Working on a two part rhythmic graphic score together. As we get a bit nearer to the end of term, we will begin our Christmas numbers.
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The School Choir needs your support! We meet every Friday Lunchtime in the Studio 1.30-2pm. Anyone from Upper Primary upwards is more than welcome to join us - as well as parents and staff! We sing a great and fun mix of music in many styles. Please encourage your child to come and join us, and why not come along yourself?!
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Spanish
Greetings for different times of the day, introducing yourself to a friend, Asking questions, nationalities, numbers 1-20, colours, parts of the face and describing yourself.
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PSHE
We will be deepening our body/mind awareness/meditation practice at the beginning of each session, working on posture, breath and watching our 'mind movies'. We will be holding twice termly sharing circles, celebrating our strengths and challenges and learning about our bodies!
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Design & Technology
We have another exciting DT project to get stuck in to! As well as completing the tree house in the garden, we will be creating individual tree house lamps for each child to take home. These trees will create calm focal points for day dreaming and meditation. Who doesn't love the idea of exploring a miniature world? These dream trees are based on the work of LA artist 'Jedediah Corwyn Voltz', who uses house plants to build his tiny tree houses around. I look forward to seeing what the children come up with and shall let the artist know how we get on.
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Art
We will be looking at the life and work of Vincent Van Gogh. Studying his use of colour, painting techniques and subject matter including his most famous works The Sunflowers and Starry Night. We will be producing a number of Van Gogh inspired artworks including some observational drawing, painting, pastels, collage, pop up pictures, clay work and a case study.
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English
The class are studying 'Goodnight Mr Tom' as their class reader. we will be focussing on the use of language features, explicit and implicit information contained in extracts, and developing individual writing styles.
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History
We will be linking developments in Britain from the Neolithic into the Bronze Age, with the rise of the ancient Egyptian Civilisation.
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Ethics & Beliefs
We will start to consider major global religions, exploring ideas around human beliefs and faith.
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Geography
We will be expanding our knowledge of the world - first by learning what the continents and oceans are and then going on to do a unit of work called 'Wow, that's amazing!" - we will be learning about Easter Island, the Nazca Lines among many other amazing places.
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Maths
This term we will be looking at how to present data - so lots of different types of graphs including bar charts, pie charts and pictograms. We will also revisit some aspects of measurement including working out area and volume.
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Science
This term we are studying 'Living things and their habitats'. We're looking at life processes and life cycles in animals and plants and working on a term-long experiment to investigate whether plants grow better when you talk to them - and, if so, whether it matters what you say! In October we'll also be starting a Chemistry topic on 'Materials and their properties', which will include finding out about metals and non-metals, dissolving substances and separating mixtures.
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Science Theory
As an addition to practical Science the class will be studying the Big Bang this term and considering the mind stretching properties of the space-time continuum. We will also be looking at the extraordinary size of the Universe on both macro and micro levels.
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