British Science Week 12th - 16th March

In Science this term, have begun to look at light. So far, we have looked at how light travels and what happens when light refracts. We completed three activities:
 

1. We reflected a torch beam into a mirror to see what happened: we labelled the incidence light of light and the reflected light from the mirror. We then measured the angle it reflected with a protractor.
    
2. We followed instructions to make a periscope. We needed two mirrors and a cereal box. This activity showed us that light reflects off the mirrors to allow us to see objects out of the top that we wouldn’t normally be able to see.
    
3. We did an experiment to see what happened when we looked at an arrow through a transparent glass filled with water: we were amazed to find out that it turns the arrow the other way due to the light being refracted.

We Come From a Land Down Under!

Cyclones? Bushfires? Drought?

In pairs, the children completed some research on either cyclones, droughts or bushfires. This links to our topic of Australia and how the country's physical geography has an impact on the extreme weather conditions. Here are some of the children's work they produced:

On the 16th of January, Year 6 had an extremely unique visitor....

Spot the leopard gecko. Thank you to Phoenix and his mum who kindly brought her in. The children thought of some key questions that they could ask to find out more about Spot. We learned about her native habitat compared to her home here in England; the food she enjoys eating. Some of these include live crickets covered in calcium powder. The children also learned about what her diet would be in the wild. The children really enjoyed meeting Spot so I can imagine there will be lots of chat about geckos at home!

Class Cedar have landed in Australia!

For our new topic this term, we are going to be looking at where in the world Australia is, comparing it's land mass, populations and traditions. We will look closely at the aboriginal tribes within Australia and how they have had an effect of modern life.

Here of a few photos of the children ready to start our new topic!

Safer Internet Day - 6th February 

Safer Internet Day (SID) was a great opportunity to talk to adults and friends about the safe, responsible and positive use of technology, and to pledge how we will help to create a kinder online community.  Click on the link to find out more about SID: https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/safer-internet-day/2018/safer-internet-day-2018-top-tips-under-11s
See some photos below:

We discussed how to be safe online, what things might worry or anger us if we see it online and what to do if we are put in this situation.

Science: Inheritance and Evolution

Can you create offspring from Mr Men and Little Miss characters?

Well, that's exactly what class Cedar did to kick off their Science topic of Inheritance and Evolution this week.

We learned that we inherit characteristics (such as eye and hair colour) from our parents that are passed down to us through genes.

We looked at how we could pass some particular genes down to offspring by combining Mr Men and Little Miss characters.

See some photos below for our fantastic discovery!!

Biographies

For Literacy homework, the children were set the task of researching a British Icon and creating a biography about them. Here are some of their excellent projects. They were all amazing, well done everyone!

Propaganda Posters

In Cedar class, we have been creating our own propaganda posters.

Posters in WWII showed people how to put on a gas mask, how to plant vegetables, and how to collect scrap metal. A government information campaign told people what to do - and what not to do. 'Don'ts' included: don't burn too much coal on the fire, don't take a bus when you could walk, and don't gossip about work, because 'Careless Talk Costs Lives'. A spy might be listening!

PSHE in Year 6

At Chase Lane, we have been using a programme called Jigsaw. Jigsaw PSHE brings together Personal, Social, Health and Economic education, emotional literacy, social skills and spiritual development in a lesson-a-week programme. Below is a photo of some of Cedar class completing the mindfulness section of the lesson:

"We sit straight in our chair, with our hands on our tummy and breathe in and out slowly." - Morgan. C

"It takes us to a place where we feel most peaceful." - Olivia. B

"The chime takes us to a calm place and we have to follow our teacher's instructions." - Molly

"It makes me feel rested, relaxed and calm." - Oakleigh

Autumn Term Science

In Science, we have been looking at living things and their habitats. We have explored the different categorisation of animals and looked at how the Linnaean System organises living things. We were able to create our own living thing by making sure their characteristics fitted in with how they were categorsied. We have also explored microorganisms by looking at what is harmful and not harmful to humans: we did an experiment where we had to observe how bread changed over the course of a week. We discovered that some went mouldy, whilst others turned rock solid based on the conditions they were placed in.

Lastly, we conducted a field survey around Chase Lane to observe what plants and animals we had in the proximity near to us. Below are some photos:

Ration Cookies

In our topic, we have been learning about WWII and rationing. To test what it would be like in war time, we decided to bake carrot cookies to see what it would have been like to bake with limited ingredients. For this, we only used a carrot, some sugar, some flour, butter, water and a splash of vanilla extract.

We all worked as a team and had a really fun morning.

We have learnt a lot from today. Our top tips:

• Always wash your hands before baking.
• Be careful when using the graters or peelers.
• Do not put too much carrot in.
• Do not use your hands as spoons.
• Always have an adult to help you with the cooking part.

Anderson Shelters

For this activity, we first designed our Anderson Shelter after doing some research on what they would have been like in World War II.

Once we had designed them, we were able to start making them. We used materials such as cardboard, foil, wooden lolly sticks, bubble wrap, paint and even teabags (used for sandbags or mud).

You can have a look at some of them below:

The Breakout of War!

After one lunch time, we returned to our class with a sign on the door not allowing us to enter.

Miss Thurston had transformed our classroom into a war zone and when the air-raid siren was sounding we had to get safely under our Anderson Shelters.

We completed activities in our table teams and discussed what it would have been like for the adults and children of WWII.

"I felt uneasy and scared" - Becca

"I didn't know what was happening" - Zamira

Team Building

During the first week back at school, class Cedar completed some team building activities. One included working in our table teams to plan and build a structure, made only of paper and straws, that could be strong enough to hold either a 500g or 1kg weight. Or if we were lucky, both...

"I really enjoyed making the structure but putting the weights on was hard. We found the 500g easy but the 1kg was harder. It collapsed our structure!" - Barney. W

"Ours didn't work but we had teamwork and that's what matters!" - Leigh. S

"We learnt that ours should have been a little lower." - Kira. H

"The first attempt might not work but persevere and you will get there eventually." - Phoenix. C 

" We worked as a team and worked really hard. We learnt it's not all about the winning, it's all about the fun. We all persevered and tried super hard." - Alfie. W