Maple 2019 2020

Welcome to Maple Class 2019-2020

Art - Pictish Standing Stones

As part of out Saxons and Scots Topic work, we first looked at who the 'Scots' were and when they arrived in Great Britain. The 'Scots' were invaders originally from Northern Ireland. When they settled in the northern most part of Great Britain, they dividee the land into 4 kingdoms. One of these kingdoms was known as 'Pictland'.

"The Picts lived in a place called Pictland but in modern times it's known as Scotland..."

"Pict standing stones were made out of stone and carved with a chisel and hammer..."

"The Picts (Scots) carved things such as a salmon for determination...They had their own alphabet which only used lines..."

"Standing stones often represented the lives of the Picts..."

Summer Term Knowledge Organisers

Summer Term 1

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Maple Home Learning

Geography

As part of our topic on Romans and Celts, we explored the landscapes of England and Italy, in order to identify similarities and differences and suggest why the Romans were so desperate to invade England.

African Tribal Dance

As part of our dance unit, we built up an African tribal dance, to the song Waka Waka by Shakira. We performed a section of the dance as a whole class, where we demonstrated moves in unison as well as mirroring a partner. We then broke off into groups, within the dance, where the groups performed their sequence in canon. Groups then performed a different phrase in unison within their group, before finally coming together for a whole class finishing position. We really enjoyed working both as a whole class and in small groups to choreograph the dance.

DT - Roman catapults

In DT we designed and built Roman catapults using square dowel, hot glue and cardboard corners, to reinforce joints. This unit not only linked in to our Romans topic, but also our Science topic - forces.

Once we had finished our catapults we tested them as a whole class to see which could fire a load the furthest. After having a couple of goes, so that both people in the working pair could have a turn, we discussed how the angle of the firing arm, or level, as well as the position of the cross bar, could affect the distance a load is fired. We also discuss the weight of the load and how we could only test the catapults fairly if everyone used the same size and weight of load.

Roman artefacts

We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to explore different Roman artefacts, which are kept at The Hive. We looked at a variety of different objects and answered questions about what we thought they were, what they were made form and what they were used for. We were even able to dress ourselves up like Roman Legionaries!

Science - Forces

In Science we have been investigating the effects of different forces. Maple class conducted an experiment to find out which size of parachute would create the most air resistance and therefore allow a slow, scenic decent to a landing point.

Spring Term Knowledge Organiser

Art - Clarice Cliff

As part of our art topic on Ancient Greece, we studied pottery design, which led us to look at the artist Clarice Cliff, who is a well known for the Art Deco pottery that she painted in the mid-20th century. We then designed tiles in the style of Cliff, rolled, cut and shaped clay, before finally painting our designs on to the dried tiles.

DT - Greek Sandals

In DT we had to design and make our own Greek sandals. We had to consider what event or occasion the sandal would be used for, how it would fasten and who the target audience would be. After sketching several ideas, we chose one and brought it to life using a range of materials and binding techniques - including sewing!

Geography - England / Greece comparison

Pupils were set an extended, Topic homework where they had to research different categories of England and Greece's geography and present their comparisons in an interesting way. Categories included:

- food

- climate

- landscape

- currency

- population