Brackenhill Primary School

Our topic this half term has been Journeys on Land.  We have used the text Journey to Jo’burg as a stimulus for our work.  We have written our own stories based on the plot of the book.  In addition, we wrote persuasive letters to Naledi and Tiro (the main characters) encouraging them not to make the perilous journey from their village to Johannesburg.  As part of History, we have been exploring black history and wrote a biography about Nelson Mandela.

In Art, we looked at the artist Andy Warhol and his work around Pop Art, where he repeated the same picture in different colours and styles.  We used this to create our own pop art of animals that live in Africa.

Refraction - We explored the concept of refraction in Science.  We found out that a pencil in water looks like it is bent.  We found out this is because light travels through air and bends when this changes to water (a different medium).

In Science, we have been learning about Light.  As part of this topic, we have looked closely at the eye.  We created a model of the eye and then used this to help us create a labelled diagram of the eye and an explanation of how they eye works.

Our topic this half term has been Spy Kids.  We have used the text Stormbreaker as a stimulus for our work.  We have written a variety of pieces of work this half term from blurbs to character descriptions; persuasive adverts to a script for our Dragon’s Den interviews. In addition, we wrote an extensive piece of writing crafting our own spy story, which many children have left open for a sequel.  As part of History and Geography, we have been exploring Ancient Egyptian civilisation and what they were famous for.

We have been creating canopic jars, in which the Egyptians kept sacred gifts to take to the afterlife with them.

Our Ancient Egypt experience consisted of five stations: Hieroglyphics, culture, famous monuments, mummification and climate. We had to research what they all meant and then evidence it in a way that we understood.

In Maths this half term, we have been covering all different aspects of fractions: simplifying, equivalence, adding and subtracting fractions with different denominators to name a few. In addition, we even added to help, when dividing fractions with an integer.

We visited Chester Zoo as part of our English and Science topics.  We had a brilliant day walking around the zoo and were able to see lots of different animals.  In English, we will be using the facts that we have learned to write about endangered species and conservationists efforts to try and save them.  In Science, we’ve explored how some of the animals we saw are adapted to suit their environments.

The attack of the yeast

Year 6 have been finding out the characteristics of living things in Science, they have found the 7 characteristics of something that is living and used the acronym MRS GREN to help them understand. We followed this on by looking at fungi (Yeast) and how it changes when sugar is added to it. We noticed that it reacts with the sugar and this produces Carbon Dioxide

Internet Safety

We had a visit from the police who told Year 6 all about the dangers they could face on the internet. They also told us how old you have to be to go on certain sites and the dangers of social media including which details you are able to give out and which details you shouldn’t give.

We’re going to the zoo, zoo, zoo…

After our visit to Chester zoo, we have based our writing on the trip. We have written an explanation text on the endangered white rhino and whether zoos are actually appropriate for animals or just used for entertainment.

World Book Day

After having a few snow days, Brackenhill finally had their World Book Day!  We read a book called ‘The day the crayons quit’. Year 6 had to write a postcard (pretending to be a crayon) stating that they wanted their old job back.

A bad hair day

This term, the children have been studying myths and legends. The children read a variety of texts based on myths and legends, where they studied what makes a good hero and a bad villain. They made sure their hero had special powers but came up against an obstacle and had to overcome that problem.

Water-fight post SATs.

A heatwave hit Brackenhill and after working so hard, the Year 6 children chose to have a water fight. Based on the pictures, you can tell that the teachers enjoyed themselves as well.