On Friday, Year 6 attended a virtual visit and presentation from Emma Carroll – author of our class novel ‘Letters from the Lighthouse’. This session allowed students to understand how the novel was built over time, what inspired key characters and settings and how Ms Carroll first got into writing. We further used this as an opportunity to make links to our current History unit (evacuation during WWII) by extending our understanding of Kindertransport and how this affected the character arc of the antagonist in the novel – ‘Esther’.

At the end of the session, students were offered the opportunity to ask Emma Carroll about her other works and inspiration. Special shout outs to Ellie, Sameer and Henry for their insightful questions!

What a fascinating and enjoyable performance! On Thursday, Years 3-6 ventured to the West Yorkshire Playhouse to go and see The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe. This musical production was fantastic and features a diverse range of ambitious props and talented actors. A must see this Christmas season if you get an opportunity!

The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe At The Leeds Playhouse

A big well done and thank you to 6D for today. The students really pushed themselves in our lino design and cutting sessions and produced some original and ambitious designs as a result. We used James Bywood’s artwork and photographs of different landscapes and other natural scenery to inspire us. Today, we did printed our designs with a watercolour pre-wash for the background. Please see below for some of their fantastic works!

Today we continued practicing how to multiply two fractions/ a fraction and a mixed number. We also practiced converting between improper fractions and mixed numbers. Well done 6D! Lots of hard work to celebrate!

Some extra activities to have a go at at home: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zyxsf82#zm7nsk7

Today, we had a virtual visit from The National Archives. The session focused on the effectiveness of different forms of propaganda during World War II. We found it fascinating how certain photographs were used by both the axis and allies during the war. For example, the photo below of St Paul’s cathedral – a symbol of national hope – was used to heighten morale in Britain, whereas, in Germany, it was used to promote anti-British sentiment.

We further discussed the concept of a “total war” – technology had significantly advanced since WW1, allowing war to affect civilians on the home front more directly. This provided ample opportunity to recall our learning about air raids, rationing and expansion of the ‘Home Front’ workforce to include women. Students got a chance to compare a original propaganda posters and create propaganda slogans of their own.

To explore The National Archives’s World War 2 propaganda sources further, please follow this link: https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/explore-the-collection/explore-by-time-period/second-world-war/second-world-war-propaganda-posters/

This week, we used playing cards to create fractions, then worked on our simplifying skills. If a fraction could be simplified, we yelled ‘Simple Simon!’ and claimed the cards. The aim of the game was to get as many playing cards as possible!

Sadly no edible chocolate was involved… Today we played ‘Chocolate Bar’ to test our knowledge of equivalent fractions. Students had to gather as many fractions equivalent to 1/2 as possible. Well done to Ellie for being the first to complete both sides of her chocolate bar!

We also began studying apostrophes more closely this morning. A little joke to leave you with…

Today in Maths, we used the rules of BIDMAS to calculate our own questions and answers. If our card ‘number’ was read out, we had a chance to read out our own equation for the class to solve. The person with the correct card ‘number’ was then asked to read out their question – and so the chain continued!

This week, we had the pleasure of working with Simone Yasmin in a poetry workshop. Simone has worked with a range of well-known organisations including Green Peace, The British Literacy Trust and British Libraries. Simone talked us through some examples of figurative language (Metaphors, Similes, Personification) in poetry and we even had a go at writing our own poems. This was a fantastic opportunity to apply our learning from our writing unit on Meanwood Valley. Special shout out to Izzy, Ellie, Zara and Ebony for their imaginative works and ‘magpieing’!