Elm Class

History (textile design & creating)

Today we enjoyed another Mundford Junction. The children and adults had fun designing and making clothes to dress a peg, in the style of  rich and poor Victorians. Amazing creativity was seen by all!

The children enjoyed finding out about the history of animation and how it has developed over time. They created double page spreads of their research.  Afterwards, they made flip books to show how pictures could be used to create motion.  Elm Class then went on to create Phenakistiscope, a slightly more sophisticated set of moving images, which was believed to be the precursor of cinema. Finally the children used a computer programme to create an animation by duplicating each image and moving their pictures slightly in each frame. We enjoyed watching the finished films. Very professional!

Today we held our half termly junction on Art. Parents were told about what we are currently doing and learning about. We then created ‘split portraits’ using the same techniques we have used in our previous art projects! It was lovely to see so many grown ups attending the session, as well as their artistic ability!!

In a science we are looking at Forces, with a focus on Gravity. We completed the Egg Drop test, asking the question ‘Can we slow gravity down?’ We used different materials to create a container for our egg so that it didn’t break when dropped from a height. We came to the conclusion that a container with a bigger surface area helped the egg stay in flight for longer, therefore the impact was less, protecting the egg.

This week we have had a no paper week, meaning we haven’t used our books or any paper to write on! We have written and calculated angles on our tables using whiteboard pens and masking tape. We have performed ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’ to some younger children. We created a presentation on everything to do with Ancient Greece. We also did some investigations over time in Science with ice cubes. We have had a very interesting and exciting week!!

Today we completed a SAW day on our current science topic of States of Matter. We firstly wrote a double page spread on Glaciers and Icebergs, discussing the differences between them. We then created geometric icebergs using collage with tissue paper and card and different sized triangles. Lastly we made ice cream in a bag! Using salted ice, cream and sugar. By reducing the freezing point of the ice by using salt, the mixture inside the bag became colder and colder eventually freezing and forming ice cream! We had to shake it a lot for it to work but we all enjoyed some ice cream at the end!

Today Elm class had a No Plan Day about Mythical Creatures. We researched different mythical creatures from different countries and stories. We created information posters and fact files about creatures including the Kraken, dragons, the Hydra, Cerberus and unicorns. We then created our own or researched Mythical creatures out of clay and recycled material.

We investigated reversible and irreversible changes in different materials. We discussed what a reversible change was (salt in water and ice to water). We then investigated some irreversible reactions. We added vinegar to hot milk to create the protein casein. This stretches and becomes a plastic like material once dried. We also looked at the Coke and Mentos reaction. This is where the bubbles on the surface of the mint react with the gases in the coke. This creates more bubbles leading to a large amount of carbon dioxide being produced. We enjoyed watching the coke erupt from the bottle!!

Today we completed some research on what the Ancient Greeks ate and drank. We rounded off our afternoon with some tasting of our own. We tried, humour, pitta bread, feta cheese, olives, tzatziki and some Greek yogurt with honey.

Today we completed a no plan day on Escape Rooms, we researched some ideas and created our own puzzles. We worked together as a class to create our own Escape Room in the classroom, creating clues and puzzles to find the key to escape. We were joined by Miss Rodda and Miss Stratton-Lawrence who managed to solve the clues to escape!

Today in Elm class we sang the 8 Times Table song we hope you enjoy it!

Our No Plan Day was all about optical illusions. We researched about them and found out that an optical illusion is something that can play a trick on your mind. 

Optical illusions teach us how our eyes and brain work together to see. You live in a three-dimensional world, so your brain gets clues about depth, shading, lighting, and position to help you interpret what you see.

We looked and drew some of our own optical illusions. We then looked at patterns called Tessellations. We investigated these and MC Escher who created them. They are patterns that are created by shapes that have no gaps or overlap. We had great fun creating our own optical illusions!