In Spring 2, we focused on the significant historical event - The Great Fire of London.
We linked our English lessons with history to write our own reports about what happened in the Great Fire. We also used our knowledge of the event to write poetry and detailed descriptions of what it would have been like to experience. To gather information, we looked at a range of sources of evidence and asked questions to help us with our research. We created timelines and acted out the main events. We also read fictional books based on the fire to build up our understanding. To compare life in different periods, we looked at how firefighting has changed since 1666. To link the Great Fire to our local area, Mr Wilksinson came in to talk to us about a fire at the Imperial Ballroom in 1976. He was an eyewitness and the person who called the fire brigade. We enjoyed listening to his experience and asked him questions to find out more about it.
In maths, we covered place value, length, addition and subtraction, shape, fractions and position and direction.
In science, we learned about animals and their offspring. We observed how young animals are similar and different to their adults and looked at simple life cycles.
We researched and learnt about different habitats and examined how animals are suited to their environments. Steven Lewis Neill came in and challenged us to find as many different kinds of animals in our forest school. To show our understanding of animals in their habitats, we designed our own animals and explained how they were suited to a particular habitat.
In computing, we created algorithms to program a robot. We leant how to debug our algorithms to perfect our code. We practised programming on screen, using computer commands to create programs with moving objects.
In music, we learnt a song called Zootime. Our unit of learning had a reggae focus and we listened to and appraised a range of reggae songs. We practised playing recorders, glockenspiels and xylophones and included them in our performance with singing and dancing. We also improvised using instruments and composed our own pieces of music using digital software.
In geography, we identified and located the four countries of the U.K. using atlases. We then used our skills to locate their capital cities. We focused on London and used maps to find out about some of its characteristics.
In art, we created scenes from The Great Fire of London, using different media such as charcoal pencils, pastels and paint. We practised sketching and blending techniques to create different effects.
In R.E., we studied Islam and the beliefs and practices linked to prayer. We explored why people believe it is important to pray and how rituals and routines might unite communities.
In P.E., we focused on movement, performing dances with patterns. We explored different ways of moving to music, created sequences and evaluated ourselves and others. We learnt how to explore space and how our bodies can express ideas, characters or feelings.
For World Book Day, Burnley Youth Theatre invoted us to an online storytelling session alongside lots of other schools. Taylor read the story of Greta and the Giants - inspired by Greta Thunberg's stand to save the world. The story was all about how we should stand up for what we believe, even if it might be challenging.
To celebrate Easter, we had an egg hunt in the forest school and sat around the campfire afterwards with some hot chocolate (YUM!).