We are really excited to introduce you to our new project this term:

Misty Mountain, Winding River

This term, our project will teach us all about the characteristics and features of rivers and mountain ranges around the world. This will include a detailed exploration of the ecosystems and processes that shape them and the land around them.

Within our companion project, Vista, we will also learn about techniques that artists use when composing landscape images, such as colour and atmosphere.

Week 6

Religious Education

Our RE topic is drawing to an end and we have been learning about Havdalah which is how people of the Jewish faith say goodbye to Shabbat. 

Blessings are said around a table containing a braided candle with six wicks, a glass of wine and a spice box. The candle is lit, the wine is sipped and the spices are sniffed!

The Havdalah spice box contains the following ingredients:

Cardamom pods

Cinnamon

Cloves

Orange peel

Rose buds

We smelt the ingredients separately and discussed our thoughts on the smells. Some were very strong but others sweet and fragrant.

We then mixed all of the ingredients together to make the Havdalah spice mix. We enjoyed sniffing the sweet-smelling spice mix and is a reminder to Jewish people about how sweet and wonderful Shabbat is.

Week 5

Art

The time has arrived for us to create our very own landscape artwork! 
 

We found a photograph of a mountainous landscape, used our viewfinder to find an interesting vista then created a thumbnail sketch. We annotated the sketch to add more detail in preparation for creating our landscape. Some of us have chosen to use pencil for our main piece but most of us have decided to use paint.  

Week 4

DT

We have been learning about existing products in DT, in relation to the items a mountain climber might use. Luckily for us, Mr Clarke climbed Snowdon during half term so he was able to share his experiences and photographs with us!

We used this information to fill out backpacks with essentials for our own mountaineering expedition, thinking about the properties of each item and their suitability for our purpose. 

Reading Comprehension

As part of our reading comprehension this week, we have been using our prediction and inference skills.

Using the thought provoking image below we were able to respond to some intriguing questions:

How does the picture make you feel?

Do you think the boy knows what lurks beneath the surface?

What do you think he can see/hear?

What is the crocodile’s character like?

What will happen next? Continue the story.

If you could jump into the picture, what would you do? Would you help the boy? How?

In Class 2, we are also really working hard to try and give evidence behind our responses.

Week 3

Art

This week, in art, we have been practising different techniques using fine line pen and soft pencils.

We also experimented with atmospheric perspective using paint wash. First, we started with the background and then built up the pigment in the wash so that it became darker in the foreground.

Week 2

Art

This week we enjoyed comparing work from famous landscape artists. We used some interesting questions to structure our thinking:

What can you see in the artwork?

Why did the artist select the viewpoint?

What is the purpose of the artwork?

How has the artist used line, colour and pattern in the artwork?

What do you like about the artwork?

How are the paintings the same or different?

Religious Education

In RE this week we continues exploring the Jewish festival of Shabbat.

We watched a clip which showed what a Jewish family do during Shabbat, specifically the family eat that is the most significant part of the weekly celebration.

We then wrote an invitation to our very own special meal. We thought who we would want to be there, which food we would provide, the activities and games we would carry out after the meal, what we would wear and the place we would have it.

One shocking fact about how Jewish people celebrate Shabbat was that, during the 25 hours, they do not use anything that is electrical. We all thought how difficult that this must be but after a while reflecting and discussion, we realised how lovely it would be to just simply communicate and have fun with our families.

Week 1

Art

This week we started our companion project, Vista.

We explored what the term landscape means and briefly looked at work from artists, famous for creating landscape paintings.

Using our very own viewfinder, we took our sketchbooks outside to find an interesting view in our school environment and made thumbnail sketches.

Religious Education

As a memorable experience to our new RE topic, the Jewish celebration of Shabbat, we turned the classroom into a relaxed zone with cushions, blankets, beanbags and sofas. For 30 minutes we all found our own way to calm down after our busy PE lesson.

Shabbat is the day of rest for people who follow the Jewish faith and we are really looking forward to further exploration of this celebration.

Literacy, linked to Geography

Class 2 demonstrated their understanding of the vocabulary on their knowledge organiser: erosion, transportation and deposition. They showed how rocks and soil are worn away by the river, carried along with the flow and left behind further along. Super work!