Summer Term 2022
SATs have come to an end and the Year 6 pupils got to celebrate their achievements in Castle Park on Friday. We played crazy golf, rounders and had a very special art workshop with Mrs Blair. Here we are having lots of fun to celebrate all our hard work.
Designing chariots for King Tutankhamun.
Using primary sources of history, year 6 identified that King Tutankhamun had 2 chariots in his tomb, showing his love for chariots. They then planned using an exploded diagram their own chariot fit for a pharaoh and this week have been putting their woodwork skills to the test! Here we are cutting the wood for our chariots. Final product photos will be available soon!
Our Reception buddies
Now restrictions have eased, we were able to spend time reading with our buddies and have a photograph taken with them! Here we are with our buddies.
This week, Darren invited us into the hall to take part in a very active session where we learned more about ourselves and each other. We played some games thinking about our interests and those in the class who shared the same interests. Darren asked us about how we felt about secondary school. We shared our hopes and fears. Darren then asked us to freeze frame, or picture, what the first day going to secondary school looks like and our feelings. We then thought about how we could use these interests from the first part of the lesson to introduce ourselves to new people at secondary school and find others with similar interests and hobbies. We role played this to give ourselves practice with people we knew.
Mummifying Oranges (and a pepper!)
Today we mummified oranges to replicate the process we know from primary and secondary historical sources. We followed the processes, with a few alterations, to see what a difficult and pressured job it was. We used our historical empathy to identify how we felt and how embalmers would have felt 3000 years. We compared mummies from 1000bc to 50bc and saw how over time they changed and practice made perfect. Many of us felt honored but also felt the pressure of mummifying a pharaoh. How would you feel mummifying a pharaoh knowing Ra would be watching?
PSHE - peer pressure with Essex Police
Today PC Adams and PC Spiers came to our class. We helped the Police by following up a missing child case, where Toby didn’t turn up to school. It was the result of peer pressure. We used local CCTV in Colchester and his mobile phone records to see who he had been speaking to and texting and where the messages were sent from and received. We were able to pinpoint where Toby was using map grid references (Colchester OS maps) and speak to certain people to ascertain where Toby was. We wrote down questions for these witnesses and called up Jess, Toni and Ash. We worked out that Toby was on his way to Castle Park and located him. PC Spiers then called up the mobile unit who went to collect Toby. Toby admitted it was due to peer pressure from an older boy called Kye. As a class, we reflected on what peer pressure meant and what we should do about it.
Using primary sources of history to discover the Pharaohs
Today we looked at tomb art, a primary source of history to see how we knew who was Pharaoh. We saw there were two different crowns, the hedjet of Upper Egypt and the Deshret of Lower Egypt until Pharaoh Narmar united them as one country with one crown: the double crown. We noticed they were slightly different but both had one thing in common: a snake on the front. Then, we followed pictorial instructions to make our own crowns of Egypt.
Enhancing our learning by using ICT
Today we learned how to create an online timeline showing the history of the ancient Egyptians. We used the Read Write Think Timeline to add in key historical moments of Egyptian history using research skills. We learned how to split our screens to drag photos into the timeline more effectively and to take notes more easily. We published our timelines on Seesaw for our parents to see.
Odd Sock Day
Anti-bullying week 2021
Today we all came in with odd socks, inspired by the song from Andy and the Odd Socks. We focused on what bullying means, what anti-bullying entails and how kindness can support one another. Then we worked as a team to create the word kindness, to reminds us to keep kindness at the heart of all we do.
After looking at the current affairs topic of Cop 26, we looked at how climate change could impact the ocean life of not only the Galapagos but also our marine life here in East Anglia. We conducted a STEAM experiment to see the affects of ocean acidification. We discovered that the sea life would die out, the food chain would be affected, fishermen would lose their jobs and eventually lead to total extinction. We concluded that we can do something about it, making a small change to have a big impact on our world. This ties in with Laudato Si, the message from the Pope and how we have just one world for our Lord God, we must protect it before it is too late.
On Friday 12th November, Father Rick came to visit year 6 and teach us all about what vocation means, what the vocation of the Priest entails and how he was called by God to become a Priest. We asked some rather tricky questions that Father Rick answered in such an inspirational way. Thank you for coming to see year 6 Father Rick!
Day 4 of Aylmerton
Team building
Today we developed our team building skills! We learned about the 3 components of teamwork: co-operation, communication and encouragement. We had 4 different team building activities to complete including the acid river, marble run, bomb detonation and flip and fold!
The Monster Trail
After lunch, we went to Felbrigg woods to use our map skills and compasses to navigate the woods and avoid the monsters! We had to use our teamwork skills to earn as many points and get back to our meeting point.
Tonight was disco night! We danced all night long to some amazing tunes!
Day 3 of Aylmerton
Today we went on the Broads at Wroxham where we learned how to skipper a boat. What an incredible experience! Some of us have never driven a boat before and we learned so many skills! Some of us still need a few more lessons before we are left to drive on our own! We were so lucky to see so many swans, herons and geese!
Afterwards we went to Sea Palling to look at the coastal defense systems. We rated the beach there 8/10. It was awesome playing on the beach in the wind!
Then we compared the beach at Happisburgh to Sea Palling: with limited sea defense systems and major coastal erosion. We rated it 4/10 though one of us rated it 10/10 as it is nature doing what nature should do without humans interfering. I wonder, what would you rate the beach at Happisburgh?
Tomorrow we are off to Felbrigg to complete the Monster Trail!
Bowling - our evening activity
Bowling winners!
Day 2 of Aylmerton residential
What a magical day we had today! We went to Blakeney where we learned all about the wildlife, the brackish waters and long shore drift in action! In order to learn about it, we had to wade (knee deep) across the river!
We even stopped for ten minutes (when the rain subsided) to take some time for us. We listened to nature around us and quite simply relaxed. It was such a calming moment.
After all the fun of being 'river warriors', we then went to visit the seals at Blakeney point. We even got to see a seal pup!
Day 1 of Aylmerton residential
Day 1 of our residential complete! We've had a fantastic day: learning about the coastal erosion and sea defense at West Runton and East Runton. We learned about the transportation and deposition of sand and rocks along the coast and that's how we can find semi precious stones. Many of us now have a very large rock collection with some fossils to bring home on Friday. The children have behaved impeccably and have really impressed Tinkerbell and Patch.
After dinner, we went on a twilight safari where we walked down to Overstrand promenade. We watched the lights on Cromer Pier, the lights on the wind turbines and even saw evening fisherman laying their traps for crabs. We watched the stars and some of us were even lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a shooting star! Then we went back to the Chapel to hear the story of Lady Florence at Felbrigg Hall!
