CURRICULUM ==> CLASS LINKS

Welcome to the Chippewa Class page. Here you can see some of our displays and find out what we have been doing recently. Chippewa Class consists of Years 4 and 5 and is taught by Mr Harding with Mrs Masters and Mrs Hazeldine.

Looking back at the Spring Term: This term we had lots of visitors to the school. We were visited by the local police officers who gave us an insight into their jobs and responsibilities. The local fire brigade also stopped by and helped us to understand the dangers of fire. We looked at some items that were in real fires and it made us really think about fire safety.

As part of our project entitled: 'Which is best - feet, wheels or wings?' We were visited by a host of classic and vintage vehicles. Our favourite was the 1973 V12 Jaguar E-Type. We were amazed at the shape and how small the door handles were!

We looked closely at larger vehicles, like lorries, and thought about how they developed into the vehicles we see today. We investigated steam power as well, linked to our research on Richard Trevithick, so the chance to look closely at a minature traction engine allowed us to learn a lot.

It has also been 'National Science and Engineering Week' and we looked at famous scientists like Charles Darwin and conducted lots of exciting experiments like testing how long a string telephone could be! We also planted and raised plants for the Spring Garden Fete.

This term we have been reading and writing our own myths and creating exciting mythical beasts. We have also been finding out about famous artists and asking ourselves 'Why are thery so famous?' We have been looking at artwork and trying to deduce who painted it based solely on the painting style.

As part of the 'Portrait of an Artist' project we have been using charcoal and chalk to create bird scenes linked to National Bird Watch Week. We have also been counting the birds we see and seeing which foods they prefer.

A normal day consists of fun breaks where we play a selection of enjoyable and educational games in the playground. It also consists of making great use of the classroom computers; here groups are talking about and creating mythical beasts for their stories.

Looking back at the Autumn Term: As it has recently been National Poetry Day all the children in Chippewa Class have been reading and writing a range of poems. We decided we liked Don't Bring Camels in the Classroom by Kenn Nesbitt the most and decorated our door with all the animals mentioned in the poem. We have also designed our own Tudor shields with our interests displayed on the front. However, this display is a game where you have to figure out who drew each shield just by looking at that person's interests!

We have been investigating the Tudor era and painted famous Tudor figures in the style of their portraits. Can you spot Henry VIII, Mary I, Elizabeth I and Sir Francis Drake? We also found out that Tudor people had bad teeth and we devised an experiment to see which liquid was the worst for our teeth. We put real teeth into a range of liquids we drink regularly and predicted what would happen to them. Most people thought the coke would be the worst but quite a few opted for orange juice as it had citric acid in it. We also included vinegar, blackcurrant, toothpaste and a control condition too. We really had to think about planning and conducting the experiment safely.

As part of our theme about Henry VIII we visited Trerice Manor and were amazed at how grand the building was and not quite as uncomfortable as we had thought. We carefully drew the outside and suddenly noticed even more details about the building. We noticed lots of architectural features like the number of chimneys and how the windows were made of small pieces of glass; very unlike the houses of today.

Inside the manor we played Nine Men's Morris, which we hadn't seen before, and when we got back to school we managed to find an online version we could play at home. We saw various types of Tudor armour and weapons and we even got to try them on although the chain mail was incredibly heavily. We thought Tudor knights must have been very fit or very tired! We also made Tudor musical instruments that were very difficult to play as you had to blow them just right to get a sound from the reed. We played them at a Tudor banquet that was held in the school hall.

In science we came back and looked at our healthy drink experiment and found the teeth in coke had turned black but the worst was the blackcurrant which had turned dark purple and even had some sugar crystals growing on it! We learnt how important it is to wash out our mouths after sugary drinks - even Flash our class dragon agreed!

Towards Christmas we turned our attention to the Christmas Fair where we made Canadian log lanterns which we sold to raise money. We had groups cutting, sanding, varnishing and decorating them with glitter and holly - we were sold out very quickly. We learnt how to budget, market and set production goals. We started to look at the work of Renoit and used watercolour to recreate how he painted fruit.