This half term, we have continued our topic 'Frozen Kingdom', looking into the lives of famous polar explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton. The children created some fantastic biographies and learnt about the Terra Nova expedition and Endurance. After this, we started our Titanic unit, where the children studied what happened to the Titanic, the impact of this and analysed historical sources and evidence. After this, we had our own class debate, where each group had to defend themselves. In the end, it was decided that Bruce Ismay would be the culprit! The children also produced some wonderful historical narratives and fact pages based on the features of The Titanic. During Art, we created our own models out of recycling materials, representing environmental Art. In our DT sessions we learnt about the different types of bridges, engineers and constructed our own bridges. The children have engaged extremely well in this topic and look forward to starting our new topic, Britain At War, during the summer term.

Maples have had a fantastic time starting our new topic, ‘Frozen Kingdoms’, where we have been looking closely at the Arctic and Antarctica, identifying key features of the land and creating our own fact booklets. Additionally, we had an amazing session with the Polar museum, where we learnt about different expeditions in the Arctic and looked at many fascinating artefacts. During our art topic, we learnt about the Inuit tribe and even had a go at our own carvings using soap!  We  also looked at stencil art and created our own artwork using different polar animals.  The children have been enjoying our class book study, the Wolf Wilder by Catherine Rundell and have created some amazing diary entries, explorer logs and non-chronological reports about wolves. We look forward to continuing our learning and looking closer into the lives of polar explorers and the sinking of The Titanic. 

This half, we have started our new topic, ‘Maafa’ where we have studied Africa past and present, with a focus on Benin. We have also looked at the development of the transatlantic slave trade, what life was like for people during this time and what events led to the abolition of slavery. Children have been using their writing skills to create non-chronological reports, leaflets, newspaper reports and diary entries. Additionally, we have finished our class book, Freedom, where we learnt about the life of a boy called Nat who moves to London after being a slave in Jamaica.

In Art, we have been studying ‘Tints, Tones and Shades’, where we have created some lovely landscape paintings and sketches with a focus on perspective and shading. During Science, we have learnt about the circulatory system and the job of the heart. We created our own clay models of the heart and conducted an experiment creating blood using food dye and water. Additionally, we have conducted other interesting experiments during our Science day.

Next half term, we will continue with our Topic and look forward to some exciting events ahead!