November was the end of our History theme of Epic Egyptians. We explored the events leading up to the end of the Egyptian Empire. We identified the causes that led to the invasion of the Ancient Egyptian Empire and the consequences of the invasion and its decline. Furthermore, we identified why Rome would want Ancient Egypt as part of its Empire. We have also studied Ancient Egyptian Gods and written a non-chronological report for Ra – the God of the Sun.

During November,  we have been swimming at the leisure centre. The children were fantastic – improving their swimming or learning to swim, gaining water confidence and learning all about Water Safety in a practical way.  The children received a variety of certificates. Well Done Year 6!

The children in year 6 have had a very busy March!

Throughout March, the children have started to learn about Ancient Egypt.

We discussed and compared our knowledge about ancient civilisations (from previous learning) and what we know about the Ancient Egyptian civilisation. After researching The Nile, we wrote a comparative report about The Nile during Ancient Egyptian times and now. Furthermore, we researched Tutankhamun and Howard Carter using primary and secondary sources in preparation for the children’s diary recount, written in first person as if they were Howard Carter.

The children also enjoyed the ‘Junk Percussion Workshop’, where they experienced different rhythms on a variety of junk instruments. The children performed ‘We Will Rock You’ using these different rhythms.

Although there are not many days in February and a half term, we have still been very busy with our learning.

In Science, we have been continuing our work on Light – investigating the reflected and incident ray, along with their angles. As our science unit is part of a crime investigation, we used our knowledge and made a periscope to investigate different reflective materials. We found out that retro reflective material does not enable you to see through the periscope because, the rougher the surface, the less reflective (the light shot back in different directions). Then, the duller the surface, the less reflective as more light was absorbed. After our investigation, we could eliminate a suspect.

During February, it was Safer Internet Day. We looked at the terms and conditions of WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and You Tube. We retrieved information about:

What personal information can they collect?

What can they do with this information?

We discussed the term of online consent and what we understand from, why social media want our personal information and why this is valuable to them. We discussed the term targeted advertising and linked this to our previous knowledge of web crawlers. We also thought about what responsibilities we have got for the well-being of others in our online social group, how impulsive and rash communications online can possibly cause problems, how we can support others (including those who are having difficulties) online and how to report problems online for both me and my friends.

Later during the day, we looked at when using social media, you are creating a digital footprint and that a digital footprint is data that is left behind when users have been online. Therefore, this helps create your online reputation (eg overall quality or character as judged by people in general). This could be seen as being positive or negative. We discussed that It is only bad if the things that you share or that are shared about you, reflect badly upon you and project an image of yourself that you don’t want people to see – or if putting the information together could affect your personal privacy and security. We explored online reputations (where people form an opinion in greater detail). We looked at the applicants to a college, which will be funded by the local premier league football team Halliwell FC. The football team will be giving one student money to fund their further study in football business management. We imagined that we work for the college and conducted online searches to fill in the information that we can find to help the football club assess who should be offered a place. Based on the digital footprint information, who decided who should be offered a place on the course and who should not be offered a place on the course – giving reasons. Finally, we discussed how to try to control a digital footprint to help an online reputation and the online reputation of others.

Towards the end of the day, we gave a presentation to parents – sharing all the information we had learned.

The children have worked extremely hard in Numeracy converting, ordering and comparing  decimals, fractions and percentages – with some very tricky problems!

The children have been exploring Martin Luther King’s Dream Speech for persuasive devices and context. This inspired them to write their own version as if they were Ruby Bridges – fighting for equality and education.

Some children visited Arthog last week spending time rock climbing, gorge walking, canoeing, orienteering and night walking!! They all represented Woodlands fabulously, demonstrating a number of our ‘Secrets of Success’. The staff, who accompanied them, were very proud!

The children, who did not go to Arthog, also used a number of  our ‘Secrets of Success’ – especially exploring the mystery book ‘The Watertower’ and when painting in the style of Jackson Pollock. Each child recreated a photograph of New York using ‘drip painting’.