Badgers (Years 5 and 6)

Miss Dally - Class Teacher	Mrs Stenton - Class Teaching Assistant

 Our learning in Badgers

• During DT, we designed our own bridges. We considered what shapes to use and what materials will allow the bridge to hold weight. 
• We have set up our very own company. We are creating beaded rings, keyrings, bracelets and necklaces. The finance team have been very careful with spending the money, the design team have spent a lot of time creating Badgers logo and brand name and the marketing team have been conducting their own market research along with creating an amazing advert. 
• We described Long John Silver (the Pirate in Treasure Island) using rich vocabulary and interesting sentence openers. 
• We have been planning and writing our own Non - chronological report based on different topics. We have created mind maps as plans allowing us to show all the different subheadings we will need. 
• We have been continuing our learning on Fieldwork in Geography. We have recapped what we did in Term 3 with Mrs Dagger and continued our booklets ready for the school trip at the end of the term.
• We have been writing our historical essay answering the question “Why was winning the Battle of Britain so important?”
• We have been writing our own narratives. We have focused on using a range of devices to paint a picture in the readers mind.
• We practiced the skill of running ready for Sports Day. We also had a go at hurdles, allowing us to mix jumping and running together.
• We enjoyed a restful time in the shade of the forest listening to Miss Dally read us some 'Revolting Rhymes'!
• We launched this terms value of “We are Together” by creating a piece of art as a class.
• Phase 3 have been working hard in Science investigating thermal insulators. We wanted to find out which materials were the best at keeping things warm and used our knowledge of the properties of materials to help them.
• Phase 3 have been creating our own invasion games. We had to ensure that our games included the skills of attacking, defending, passing and communication. 
• We have been exploring how to program a Micro: bit. We have used our growth mindset to understand how to program the Micro: bit and are now ready to install the program. 
• We have been exploring financial education in PSHE.
• In PE, we have developed the skills of passing, attacking and defending through Football. 
• We started our RE topic by looking at a range of different religions and world views and plotting key events linked to them on a timeline.
• We have been upleveling our writing, looking at adding in: commas for parenthesis, semi colons and rich vocabulary. 
• We have been finishing our hot write. We have been looking, exploring and discussing a short film called “Little Freak”. From this, we are writing our own persuasive letter imagining we are the main character. 
• We have started our zine's (a small-circulation self-published work of original texts and images, usually reproduced via a copy machine). We will be printing onto their own poems which they wrote during an English session. 
• In PSHE we are continuing to learn about drugs and alcohol. We have discussed what alcohol is and how it can affect people. 
• We have started our Hip Hop music compositions using the ipads, adding in a drum beat and beginning to add in chords.
• We had our first session of Gymnastics in PE. The coaches from Active Trowbridge taught us a variety of jumps and rolls, and how to use the school climbing equipment safely. 
• As part of our learning about electricity in Science, Badgers are looking at how bright / dim a bulb goes when adding more cells to a circuit.
• We have been sewing our designs onto our Christmas stockings.... they are going to look amazing when they are finished!
• We have been focusing on our times tables. We have been completing our times table booklets twice a week and trying to beat the two minute timer.
• We are developing our skills of defending by playing mini Tag Rugby games.
• We explored a variety of different festivals across the world to help us answer the question - What are the deeper meanings of festivals? 
• We started to explore different pieces of music. We listened to and appraised the pieces using the correct musical vocabulary. 
• We have been creating our own food packaging using different materials; drawing out the net, decorating it and then assembling it together to create the final product. To understand nets more, we spent time designing and making a truck using Purple Mash. 
• In PSHE, we have been looking at different social media platforms  and the age restrictions. We have also explored how some information should not be shared online and what can happen when information is shared. 
• We have been writing and acting out our own character descriptions. We have used powerful describing words to catch the readers attention and paint a picture in their mind. 
• We have been learning about the 2nd Pillar of Islam during our RE session. We recapped what the first pillar (Shahadah) is and what it means to Muslims and then explored  'The Salah', gathering evidence to answer the following questions: What difference does this pillar make to Muslims and Can religious teachings help us decide what is the best way to live?
• We have started to explore the Tempest through dance. We have learned the skills of improvisation, cannon and unison and will develop these skills throughout the term ready to tell the story of the Tempest through dance.