2020-2021

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 half term the children will be looking at different habitats. This week we have explored dinosaurs and swamps! The children have worked very hard measuring dinosaurs, printing shapes to make dinosaurs and then labelling their very own dinosaur. We also made dinosaur  3D biscuits. Have a lovely weekend everyone, be safe in the sunshine !