Rowan Class

Welcome back to the new term. This term our main topic is "Can any good come out of war?" We will be learning about: Germany’s invasion of Poland  which caused France and Britain to go to war with them, 

how many children were evacuated from cities to live in the country side, due to transport issues, all food was rationed and many people started to grow their own food.

We will be using the book Goodnight Mr Tom as part of our English lessons and Whole Class Reading to support us with our understanding of war. 

Please take a look at our Topic Plan. 

Archive 2022-23

In art, we have been looking at nature and how we can use it to print. We created impressed printing blocks. 

Pride Month  

As part of PRIDE month, we learnt about the LGBTQ+ community. We read the story: The story of Harvey Milk and the pride flag, to find out the origin and meaning to the flag. 

World Environment Day

On Friday, to celebrate World Environment Day, we planted our own sunflower seeds making our own greenhouses. 

In art, we have research different printers. Children then had to use what inspired these artists to create their own information about them. It was amazing to see the children being so creative. 

Empathy Day. 

We celebrated Empathy Day by looking at the meaning of the word. We drew pictures that would put a smile on someone's face, wrote poems, made resolutions and finally created out own emotion maps. It was a very peaceful day, where we looked after our own mental health. 

Our RE topic this half term has been about racism and how it is seen in different religions. We created posters to show how everyone is welcome. 

In science, we have been learning about evolution and inheritance. Today, we looked at different fossils and learnt about Mary Anning. 

In our P4C lesson this week we continued to look at racism related to our RE learning. We listened to the story "Let's Talk About Race." We had a lot of discussion around this and found the story very insightful. We agreed that we are all the same and we should always treat everyone equal. 

Take a look at our learning in our P4C book. 

Watch the You Tube video below to listen to the story. We know you will enjoy it. 

National Maths Day

Today was 'National Maths Day' and even though our SATs are over, we still worked extremely hard today. We started with a number investigation and joined in with 'live' maths quiz, even learning some dance moves with Katya Jones from Strictly Come Dancing. We had great fun!

Coronation Day

We have had a great day celebrating after working so hard all week. 

We have been working as a phase to create some amazing art work to celebrate the event. 

Our DT topic this half term is about 'Chinese Inventions'. We learnt that they invented the kite. To start off we tested different types of paper. We wanted to see which was the strongest, most absorbent and were they translucent or not. 

In our DT lessons we researched, designed, made and then evaluates our bridges. We really enjoyed working as a team and reviewing and designs as we went along. 

We made our bridges unique. We hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed making them. 

In DT this week, Mrs Bradshaw gave us another challenge. We looked at different beam shapes and the impact these have on the strength of bridges. We had to investigate the strength of different beams but making them from construction paper.  However, we were not allowed to use and glue or sticky tape. We tested them to see which beam shape held the most weight. 

Stars of the week

Tiahna - for an improvement to attitude to learning in maths.

Bella- for an improvement to attitude to learning in maths.

Temi - dedication to reading.

Kayne- for being amazing in every lesson. 

We have been working hard throughout the year to improve our handwriting. It's very hard to get a certificate for handwriting from Mrs Bradshaw, but look how many she gave out after marking our big writes. 

Well done guys. 

This week, in Design Technology Mrs Bradshaw gave us the challenge of building the strongest bridge which would have to hold a cup of coins.

About 10 minutes into our construction Mrs Bradshaw asked us to consider what was working and what was not working. We realised that the shorter the columns of the bridge the stronger it would be. We also thought about how the distance between each end of the bridge might affect the strength.

We discussed that our bridge needs to withstand forces pushing down upon them.  The bridge must be able to endure tension and compression.

Some of us where more successful than others. 

Please find the below the information from the SAT's Parents Meeting being held on Tuesday 7th March.7

Mrs Toshkezi 

Amazing Art

In art this week, we have been developing our pencils skills to create patterns. We then used these skills to add detail using ink pens to cityscapes. Look at how amazing they are and they are not finished yet. 

In computing this week, we have been looking at different blogs. We have learnt the difference between a blog and a vlog and have planned out our own blogs - ready to write next lesson. 

On Friday, your child will have brought home a pack. Inside this pack, there is knowledge organisers for maths and SPAG. This is everything a Year 6 child has to know. Booster letters for those child who are invited to morning booster lessons, starting this week (30th January 2023). There is also a letter outlining your child's current attainment and progress from Key Stage 1. If you have any questions please contact your child's class teacher. 

Below is a copy of the letter 'Ways to help your child at home', with the live links.

We have been that busy in Rowan class since returning after Christmas, we have not had time to update our blog. Here are some of the amazing things we have been doing. 

In art, we have been using different technique when using acrylic paint to create different effects. We looked at different techniques and how to create different effects with water colours. We will be using these different skills when we produce our final cityscape piece of art work. 

In science, we are learning about the heart and circulatory system. We have learnt everything that is in blood and even made some. 

We now start our mornings off with bagels. They give us the energy to start our learning. 

Stars of the week. 

It was really hard, as Rowan class are all working extremely hard. 

Reading champion - Abinsa

Teachers award - Denzel and Temi, who have not been with us long but already feel part of our class. 

Well done everyone!

Wow, what a busy week we have had. From writing non-chronological reports about daily life in Ancient Greece, researching how different animals reproduce to comparing the similarities and differences in prayer in different religions. And to top it off, developing skills that will help make our clay pot sculptures next week. We made thumb pots, using gouging and coiling techniques. 

Thanks to all the parents who came in this morning to read with our children. 

Year 6 had a fantastic afternoon at Crucial Crew. We learnt many different ways to keep ourselves safe out in the community and what to do if we felt unsafe. 

Next week is slightly different as I am off to Ghyll Head with some of our class. I know Mrs Toskezi has some amazing art work planned for the children staying at school. 

If your child is going to Ghyll Head, keep on eye on the Ghyll Head blog, I will upload pictures when we can. 

I'm all packed and ready for an early night. 

Maths Champion this week goes to Samuel - for 100% dedication in every maths lesson. 

Reading Champion is Iwinosa - for using her inference skills to develop her understanding of our whole class reading text 'Wonder'. 

Teacher award goes to Isabelle - for being a fantastic Year 6 pupil. 

Keep it up. 

Well done to Kevin and Tiahna, who were successful in becoming Rowan's Digital Leaders. The computing team were extremely impressed with their applications. 

Well done Dallyce and Emily for a fantastic week. 

In English this week, we have been looking at the battle between Grendal and Beowulf. The children created their own story map and will be using this to write our own version of the battle. 

In maths, we have been investigating numbers and where they are square numbers or not using concrete resources. 

PE, gave Rowan class the opportutnity to work with other peers, through team work and communication. 

Stars of the week!

Champion Reader of the week - Kayne

Teachers Award - Shauna

Maths Champion - Emmanuel. 

It was really hard to decide this week, so well done you three. Keep up the hard work. 

Wow, what a start we have had to Year 6. 

In English, we have wrote character descriptions about Grendal from Beowulf. In History, we have learnt about who the Anglo Saxons were and where they came from. In Geography, we have been using 6 figure grid references to read maps, it was quite tricky but we showed resilience and did not give up. 

Archive 2021-22

After the extreme hard work by everyone in Rowan Class, SATs are now completed!

I am very proud at the dedication and focus everyone has shown this week and in the preparation for them🥰

Our History and Science topic this term is ‘Will the Black Death defeat you?’ 
This week we have been focusing on Science and investigating how germs and different microorganisms spread. One investigation we did was using glitter to represent microorganisms and shaking hands with others with a different coloured glitter to show how easy it is transferred to others. It also surprised a lot of us now much we touch our faces due to the amount of glitter we had on them! 

The week before SATs and we have all been working and revising extremely hard! It is very difficult to pick this week!

My reading award went to Emily as it is so lovely to see her enthusiasm about different books and what she is reading. 
My maths award goes to Evie-Rose who has been working incredibly hard in maths and it really shows in her work!

My handwriting award (and pen license) goes to Marci!

Finally my teachers award is for Abbie who’s determination to focus and do well this week and really paid off!

Well done everyone ♥️

Thank you very much to all the parents that joined us for our reading morning. It is so lovely to share the enthusiasm we all have reading books we enjoy! ♥️

Super well done to my stars this week!

We have all been working really hard pushing ourselves for SATs week and it has made deciding who gets each award really difficult!

My reading award goes to Jacob who is really pushing himself in his reading and it is so lovely to see how much he enjoys it. 
My maths award goes to Kobi who has done absolutely fantastic and should be so proud at what he has achieved this week!

My handwriting award is for Daniel who maintains beautiful handwriting and presentation throughout all his work. 
My teachers award is for Bonnie who puts 100% into everything he does. 
I am very proud of everyone ♥️

Too many of us in Rowan class are only typing with our two index fingers. Today we have been practising typing and finding the correct letters with our left hand, then our right. We still have a bit to go! 💻 

Well done to my stars this week! ⭐️
My maths award goes to Kevin who never fails to work hard in every lesson!

My reading award goes to Holly who has become more independent in her reading and bringing in her reading record!

My handwriting award is for Jack who has really impressed me this week - very close to a pen!!

Finally, my teacher award is for Leilani who has become more resilient in her learning. 
Well done 🤩😃

Well done to all my stars this week!

My maths award goes to Goodluck who is trying so hard solving all the reasoning and problem solving questions I am giving him! 
My reading award goes to Charlie who had finished his reading bookmark. 
My handwriting award is for Alfie who has really worked hard on his cursive handwriting, I am very proud. 
Last but not least, my teacher award goes to Evie who has worked so hard this week, especially in her English work!

This week we have learnt about air resistance through investigating if the surface area of a parachute affects the rate it falls. We all got to make three different parachutes and test each one, using Easter eggs as our test subject! 

It’s been a brilliant week in Rowan Class!

My reading award this week is to Ini who is such a dedicated reader and it is so wonderful to see how enthusiastic he is! 📚

My Maths award this week has gone to Frankie who is so determined to push himself and uses resources around him to support himself independently! 💜

I have TWO handwriting awards to give out! Marci and Aaron always listen to advice on maintaining beautiful handwriting and it is so lovely to see them pushing themselves  📝📝

And last but not least, my teacher award is for Pedro who has become such a resilient learner and has really been pushing himself to complete his work! ⭐️

World Maths Day 23/3/22

Today is World Maths Day. 

Below are some ideas of activities you can do at home with your child. 

We hope you enjoy doing some of them.

We have lots of stars in Rowan this week and it has been very hard to select for each award! ~
Well done to Brody and Ryan for getting reader of the week, both are dedicated and enthusiastic readers who have both completed their reading bookmarks! 
Well done to Jack who has been working really hard on his handwriting and presentation and a super well done to Aaron who has been really thinking hard and supporting others on our class rules!
Keep it up boys! :D

We had a lot of fun on world book day dressing up as different adjectives! 
We also loved hearing about everyone's favourite books, it was so wonderful to hear a range of exciting new texts to try!

Is this edited? 🤨

In PSHE, we have been looking into what images we can trust online due to the high use of editing softwares. We looked at a variety of pictures and had to guess which ones were edited or not. We also got the chance to edit our own photos and see how much we can edit a photo using an iPad! 

Stars of the Week! ⭐️🤩⭐️

Well done to Pedro for getting star of the week, he has been working so hard and should be very proud of himself! 
I also had the pleasure of giving out two handwriting awards. Mouhamadou has been trying really hard improving his handwriting and Billie-Mae is continuing to maintain her beautiful handwriting.
Also a shout out to Kobi who brought in his title belt he won! Well done to everyone! :) 

Reading for pleasure 

In class, we have really enjoyed selecting and reading books we find interesting. It is also lovely to see everyone sharing their interests with others and learning something new! 

Weekly Mile

For our weekly mile this week, we enlisted the help from Pippa to help motivate us! She helped us run around, keep a positive attitude and allowed us some cuddle time! 

SAT's Revision Websites

Below are a list of websites you may wish to use to help you. 

English: 

The English area of the Bitesize website is packed with activities and questions to help you prepare for the National Tests in English.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks2/english/

These revision pages have been put together by Woodlands Junior School to help students with their revision. http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/literacy/index.htm

Maths:

The Maths area of the Bitesize website is packed with activities and questions to help you prepare for the National Tests in Maths. http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks2/maths/

Top Marks has a wide range of Maths games to brush up on all your skills. https://www.topmarks.co.uk/Search.aspx?Subject=16&AgeGroup=3

Woodlands Junior School has several fun online interactive activities to help you with SATs . http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/maths/index.html

https://corbettmathsprimary.com/content/ (videos and worksheets)

https://www.mathsisfun.com/ (good for revising formal methods of calculation, including fractions)

https://www.sumdog.com/en/

https://www.math-aids.com/ (create  your own worksheets on subjects you have found difficult)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/z826n39

https://www.educationquizzes.com/ks2/maths/

https://uk.ixl.com/maths/year-6

SPAG 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zv48q6f
https://www.educationquizzes.com/ks2/english/

Stars of the week! 

My star this week is Ryan! He always puts 100% into everything he does and should be very proud! 
My handwriting award has gone to Brody. He has really focused on his handwriting this week and his writing in his Big Write looks amazing! 

Keep it up :) 

Freeze!

In English this week, we have been delving into the emotions and thoughts characters have in our current class text 'War Games'. We focused on the four main characters (Will, Freddie, Billy and Lacey) and thought about not only how they would be feeling when they signed up to the war but how their mums would have reacted once they had been told! We created freeze frames to show the emotions each boy and their mum would have felt.
It has really helped us gain an understanding of the characters and how this effects their actions throughout the rest of the book :) 

Stars of the Week 10.12.21

My star of the week is Keeva for her fantastic effort and contribution. She always puts 100% into her work and should be so proud :) 
My handwriting award couldn't go to anyone else this week! Frankie has pushed himself so hard to improve his handwriting and it is such a pleasure to see the pride he has in it! 

We are all really looking forward to starting our new topic focusing on WW2!
We also have a fantastic set of fiction and non-fiction books that fit our topic - we are all really interested in reading new and wonderful information all about WW2 :)

It is so lovely to keep adding to the board! Everyone is working extreemly proud and should be very proud of themselves :) 

The Day of Ahmed's Secret

This week, we have read 'The Day of Ahmed's Secret' by Florance Parry Hide and Judith Heide Gilliland, with illustrations by Ted Lewin

" Trucks and donkeys, cars and camels, carts and buses... the bustling streets of Cairo are exciting, but today Ahmed will share his secret, which is even more exciting."

We thought it was a very interesting book and had lots of discussion on Ahmed's secret as it suprised a lot of us in the class! 

Rememberance Day!

Charlie brought in his great grandads WW2 medals and information. It was lovely to share and note the bravery of our family members who have fought in different wars and the medals Charlie's great grandfather was awarded! We were proud to share his memory!

Stars of the Week! 

This week I have had the pleasure of giving out three handwriting pens! Well done to Abigail, Daisy and Jacob! They have all thought carefully about their handwriting and have been working very hard to improve it :) 

My Teacher Award this week goes to Bonnie, he has been working extremely hard and should be very proud with the work he has produced this half term! :) 

Come cook with me?

Linking to our science lessons - properties and changes in materials - we have been thinking carefully about irreversible and reversible changes. We made cupcakes, carefully mixing all the ingredients together and once cooked, thinking carefully if we could now seperate any. The only thing we noticed that could be seperated was the chocolate chips as they were solid! 
It was very fun and the smell in the classroom was delightful! They even tasted great too :) 

Our JLT representative - Holly Ball! 

Holly has been voted as our JLT representative for Rowan Class! She will be thinking and listening to ideas on what we would like to see in school and meeting with JLT once a week. Well done Holly! :) 

Can a disaster be turned into something beautiful?

In art this week, we have been focusing on our shading skills and how this can affect the lightness of a piece and create a 3D effect. Everyone did a super job practicing in their sketch books before creating beautiful final pieces. I am extremely proud of all the effort that everyone has put in! 

Meet our Eco Warriors! 

Jack and Annalise are our Eco Warriors for Rowan Class! They will be ensuring we are being mindful on the amount of paper we use and checking everyone is recycling! 
 

How can we separate materials?

In science, we have been thinking carefully about how to separate different materials that have been mixed together, including the solution of salt and water. We thought carefully about evaporation, sieving, filtering, decanting, magnetism and made predictions. 
 

Science experiment!

In topic this week, we have been learning about properties of materials! As a class, we learnt all about absorbency and when we would need absorbent materials.
We planned and created a fair investigation about which materials were absorbent. We had to think carefully about ensuring we use the same amount of water for each material and have the same size material. 
We wrote down our observations and ordered them from most absorbent to least absorbent. :)

Stars of the week - week 2 

I am so so impressed with the effort of each and every member of Rowan Class this week! Everybody has worked very hard!
I have two handwriting awards with week. Both Goodluck and Emily have such beautiful handwriting and got their handwriting pens! 
My teacher award goes to Evie-Rose for fantastic effort and participation throughout all lesson! Well done :) 

Work that makes us proud

It is always lovely to see how proud everyone is of their work. A big shout out to Frankie, Ryan and Jacob who produced fantastic letters in the point of view of someone escaping Pompeii. I wonder what can be added to the wall next week...

First week back - Stars of the week 

It has been a fantastic start to the school year with everyone working hard and trying their best. I have been very impressed with the dedication to learning and I can't wait to get to know you all more in the coming weeks. :)
It was very difficult to pick stars of the week but well done to Frankie for working extremely hard and trying to answer lots of questions and my handwriting award is to Abigail who worked beautifully in her handwriting book!