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Having learned the signifiers so that we could orally retell the story of ‘The King Who Banned The Dark’ we used our phonic knowledge and writing skills to write the story too. These students demonstrated amazing resilience whilst working this week and the smiles on their faces say it all, well done boys!
This week, for our new music unit, Year 3 have been learning to sing in Mandarin.
We begun by harmonising with notes being played on the keyboard.
Once we had harmonised we learnt some words in Mandarin.
Once we knew these words we put them to the harmonies and added actions.
In our music lesson we also discovered lots of information about the Chinese culture. We were all very excited to find out lots about Chinese New Year. This year is the year of the rabbit. Lulu told us about how her and her family would be celebrating and the types of food they would be eating. We found out that lots of Chinese families eat dumplings as these are made together as a family.
We can’t wait for our next music lesson.
This week in computing, Year 3 have continued to use the Scratch programme.
We have begun to programme our Sprite.
Using the Scratch programme we have found out how to programme our character to move around the screen using commands. We discovered how to move more than one character at a time and how the character can make different movements such as walking, turning and jumping to random places.
In geography this week, Year 3 have been discovering how the UK is separated into different regions.
We have used our knowledge of the 8 compass points to be able to label some of the different regions. We have talked about how the North East can be identified easily as it is the same as the compass point. East Anglia was a little more difficult to identify however, through discussion we realised the East Midlands was opposite the West Midlands.
Through our knowledge we were able to identify where Yorkshire is as we could spot the River Humber on the UK map.
After we had labeled the regions we used the Atlas to identify where some cities are and discussed which region they are in.
As geographers, we can identify cities such as Liverpool, Bath and Newcastle and say which region of the UK they are situated in. We used our grid reference skills to help us identify these cities through using the index in the Atlas. We read the grid reference and remembered to read across then up.
We can also identify significant landmark and say which region in the UK you would need to visit in order to see these landmarks. We identified landmarks such as The Angel of the North in the North East, Stonehenge in the South West and the Roman Baths in the South West.
Wednesday 18th January 2023
Tonight, staff at Christopher Pickering Primary School are discussing how we promote the fundamental British Values in our school.
Year 6 have been learning about one of Britain’s most influential modern – day artists, the graffiti famous Banksy. His artwork appears in public places as if by magic. Eventhough his identity has never been revealed his work is instantly recognisable as he has a particular style.
We looked at lots of examples of Banksy’s work which encouraged the children to think deeply about the hidden meanings in pieces of art.
There is a common misconception that graffiti is something that has only appeared in modern day culture. However, this is not the case as forms of graffiti can be traced back to ancient times in places such as Rome and Greece.
To build confidence the children created pencil sketches…
Then the drawings were outlined in fine black marker pen to add detail…
Then permanent marker was added to add blocks of colour – creating a stencil effect – just like Banksy…
Some of our children preferred to remain anonymous…just like Banksy…
Then we linked the artwork to our history topic, Crime and Punishment…
And finally ….in true Banksy style…
Eva
Learning about varied forms of art work will inspire children to think about what artistic style they would like to adopt themselves.
Our Year 6 history curriculum provides a platform to enrich children’s awareness of the past and develop their historical consciousness. Our curriculum builds on pupils’ understanding of British, world and local history, looking at the influence that Britain had on the wider world, and how the wider world has influenced Britain.
The latest History topic for Year 6 is ‘Crime and Punishment ‘.
For the first lesson the children were given the task of arranging historical events in chronological order.
Chronology is the science of locating historical events in time. It relies upon chronometry, which is also known as timekeeping, and historiography, which examines the writing of history and the use of historical methods.
Looking for the evidence…
Logical thinking…
Historians heads on…
Searching for clues…
Making decisions….
Why are timelines important ?
A timeline is a visual learning aid that helps children organize a series of events in the order they happened. Each event or person should have a date (or time) clearly marked on the timeline. Timelines provide a framework to show potential relationships between historical events.
This term, Year 2 have been looking at food in Design and Technology. Their brief was to create a healthy snack in the shape of a rocket.
Investigate
First of all, they investigated where food comes from. The realised that healthy food usually comes from a plant or an animal. They then sorted foods in to two groups.
Focussed Practical Task
The children practised the skills they would need. This involved slicing, grating, scooping and cutting.
Design
The children then designed their own Rocket Pitta.
Make
The children used their new skills of slicing, scooping, grating and cutting to make their rocket pitta pizzas.
Evaluate
The children evaluated their snacks based on their appearance, taste and similarity to their design.
Year 6 have been thinking about the 3P’s in their Design and Technology unit of work.
Design and make a Product for a Person with a Purpose
As technologists Y6 were challenged to design chocolate truffles that were to be a gift.
DT is not just about ‘making’. There are lots of steps that come before and after that !
Investigate – Learning about existing products
Focused Practical Task – Practising vital skills
Design – Designing a range of possible products
Make – Making the product
Evaluate – Looking back on what you did and considering what went well, what didn’t go so well and thinking about what you would have done differently
Our Learning Journey took us through each of these stages.
For two weeks the children were challenged to be chocolatiers.
Work in progress!!!
Now time to decorate !!!! Preparing the packaging!!!
! 
Nearly there!!!
What a professional looking finish !!!
Year 4 have explored the concept of making assumptions of others based on looks alone in this controversial Jigsaw theme this term. In one of our tasks we tried to make assumptions on 4 individuals without knowing their backstory before Miss Stewart revealed the relevant details for each person. Through discussion, we agreed that it is really hard not to make an informed decision on a person and realised that judging someone is a human trait that is inside all of us. We also identified that we sometimes make an assumption of an individual based on their appearance alone and all agreed that we should rather get to know a person before we make an assumption or judge them.