A huge thank you to FOSS for their contribution.

#motivateeducatenurture

Through the sequence of learning, the children began by orally telling their own story using props, followed by analysis of the language, characterisation and common story structure across many of the tales. They made comparisons between many versions of the same story and were definitely keener on the ‘Grimm versions’.

Finally, the children wrote their own Grimm tale, planning for a balance of dialogue and narrative to advance the action quickly. Full of gruesome deaths and lessons to be learnt, they created a superb collection of tales.

They then each made their own Penny Promises for the year ahead.

We used what we learnt about the river to create our river stone designs, which are now proudly displayed on the window shelves.  

How can you cut into 8 equal parts with only 3 cuts of the knife?

Lots of clever and interesting ideas - if only it wasn't a ring doughnut - then at last someone thought about slicing it horizontally - big cheers all around. 

We had to test it on a real doughnut then  we enjoyed one each on the field.  Maths and food go well together! 

We learnt that cityscapes are the urban version of landscape paintings and often they are streets, buildings and skylines.

Do you know what photorealism and hyperrealism are - some of us like the more realistic cityscapes that showed emotion and feeling such as Richard Estes'.

Finally the children then  enjoyed designing their own cityscapes, some distorted some including skylines and some including aerial views. 

Today we asked the question, ‘Are UFOs real?’

Using the case files they created arguments for and against. This followed small group discussions, with each taking on a different role - instigator, builder, prober, challenger, clarifier & summariser. Finally, the children voted with their feet, by choosing whether they believed UFOs were real or not?

As we approach the Coronation of The King, Rhine Class travelled to Westminster Abbey to learn more about Kings, Queens & Coronations.

From fascinating facts, awe inspiring architecture and stories steeped in history, they learnt about what lies at the heart of this ancient ceremony and its rituals.

The day included a guided tour of the abbey, a re-enactment of the ceremony, and sketching in the cloisters.

Watch our video below for highlights

They examined artefacts and evidence to discover what life was like in Anglo Saxon times. This included dressing up and handling some rather large and heavy weapons.

One of the highlights was visiting the new Anglo Saxon gallery. This gallery tells the story of King Alfred and his fight-back against Viking Invaders at the decisive Battle of Edington. It also features gold and garnet jewellery that belonged to a Saxon Abbess,who lived at the time when Christianity was brought to Wiltshire, and one of the first English shillings made of gold.

After lunch, the children designed and made their own gold brooch and were able to explore the rest of the museum.

A super day had by all!
 

This included learning how to tie a Sikh turban, creating a nature mandala, making a Jewish dreidl and a bracelet similar to ones that Hindus give each other during the festival of Rahki to show others that you will look after them, as well as learning about baptism through godly play.

Today Rhine Class headed off to the living rainforest for an engaging & immersive experience. There was lots to see and discover including ‘Tiny’ the tarantula. However,  the favourite has to be Cinnamon the sloth.

We learnt about how plants and animals have adapted to suit living in a rainforest environment and the different layers of the rainforest. It was amazing to see how leaves to get rid of excess water and how various animals are suited to life in the rainforest.

The children chose their favourite animal and then used paper to create layers.

Even though the self-portraits are simplified hopefully you can recognise our faces and our characteristic expressions from the new Rhine Class. 

There’s no better way to learn about circles than with pancakes.

Watch our video as we learnt a creation myth off by heart before writing our own myths - great fun!

Inspired by our venture into the space dome we learnt about the race to space and the first moon walk. 

We then created our own poems called 'Six Ways to Look at the Moon' showing off our learning on metaphors, power of 3, alliteration and expanded noun phrases.

Hope you enjoy reading them.

The day included a guided tour of the prison and an ’escape the cell‘ challenge. The children were curious to learn about the past and this was reflected in their mature and thoughtful questions.

A few pictures from the day. 

The children listened intently to the explanation of the Court trial process and the role of a Barrister, asked thoughtful questions and were inspired by the message, that anyone can be a Barrister, you just need to really want to do it.

There was then the opportunity to try on the gown and wig. Some distinguished potential Barristers!

They learnt how Guy Fawkes Night originates from the Gunpowder Plot in 1605 and that Guy Fawkes was arrested while guarding explosives the plotters had placed beneath the House of Lords.

The day included a rotation of activities: analysing sources of evidence to find out more about the plot and plotters, learning by heart the traditional Bonfire Rhyme, creating fireworks in a jar (don’t worry very safe!) firework art, and code breaking.

By hanging your Water Cycle Bag in direct sunlight, you can see the water evaporate and condense into tiny droplets (this is how clouds are formed). When the droplets become bigger, they’ll run down the side of the bag (this is precipitation, like rain), and the water will pool again at the bottom of the bag (this is collection, like lakes and oceans). And then just as it does on Earth, the water cycle begins again.

We also created explanation texts to explain what was happening. 

We then quickly moved onto numbers to 1 000 000. They used concrete materials to represent numbers to 1 000 000, including number discs and place-value charts. They were able to compare numbers to 1 000 000 using their knowledge of place value, then completing the unit by making number patterns and rounding numbers to the nearest 10, 1000, 10 000 and 100 000.

BIDMAS helps you to remember the order that you need to do your mathematical calculations where there is more than one mathematical operator (any combination of brackets, indices, division, multiplication, addition, subtraction).

This easily remembered acronym stands for:

B rackets
I ndices (powers of)
D ivision
M ultiplication
A ddition
S ubtraction

Well done Year 6 there were some tricky calculations!

We had a super day exploring the geography and ecosystem of the River Wylye, it's landforms, wildlife and habitats. We walked along this amazing chalk river mapping key features like a riffle, tributary and confluence.  

After this we measured the river's speed, temperature and flow.  

Finally, we did some kick sampling and uncovered some exciting underwater creatures. 
 

It was lovely to see how the children supported and encouraged each other to try new things. 

Lots of teamwork used here to be the first to get the ball!

A well deserved lunch break before bushcraft.

Creating fires before cooking popcorn. Yummy! 

They all withstood the earthquake.

Well done Rhine Class.