Sapphire’s autumn term.
We have been very busy this term learning lots of new topics and getting used to our new friendships and groupings.
In English we are looking at a book called Leo and the Gorgon’s Curse which is an exciting adventure filled with Greek mythology, mythical creatures and dangerous challenges. The story follows Leo, a young boy who sets out on a brave quest to break a terrible curse. Along the way, he encounters frightening creatures and must face the terrifying Medusa. We have done so many different pieces of writing including a diary entry, newspaper report, debate and making predictions. We have thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and we’re looking forward to finding out what happens at the end as Miss Tonner has left us on a cliffhanger!
Our history learning is focusing on Ancient Greece. We started off with a having to figure out what all of the resources and artefacts were linked to within Ancient Greece. We had pottery, replica weapons and armour, coins as well as objects that represented the gods and goddesses. We have learnt where Greece is (if we forget, we remember to look for the heel of the book aka Italy and then scan right to find Greece), the city states it was famous for and why Athens and Sparta were two of the most important ones. Some of us were shocked to find out that although Athens was all about education, it did not promote equality. Sparta was about training for war and fighting and women were included too. We have just started looking at the impact of Alexander the Great and what he accomplished in his short life.
Science has been focusing on developing our scientific skills – making predictions, developing hypothesis, raising enquiries and offering conclusions. We looked at whether we could make predictions about fingerprints and from that developed our own hypothesis to investigate. We’ve looked at what happens when you add different liquids to pieces of bread and leave them for a few weeks – short answer: it’s pretty gross! This week, we set up an investigation of our own choosing about plants to see if we can make good predictions and use our observation skills to see what changes occur over a period of time.
In Art lessons this term, we have looked at the artwork of Peter Thorpe, Alexei Leonov and Lucien Rudaux. They were artists who carefully planned their compositions to emphasise the vastness of space and the drama of exploration. We looked at how to use different media such as paint and pastels to make shades and tints. We also looked at different techniques such as feathering, stippling and smudging to generate different effects. We are so proud of our final pieces and can’t wait for them to be displayed in the school. We have also been told that a copy of our final pieces are going up on display in Longfields!
