Class 9

Cooking inspired by Ghana 

In DT this term, we have been learning about Ghanaian food. We have studied which ingredients are plentiful in Ghana and how they are used. We learned skills including chopping and peeling. In groups, we planned, cooked and evaluated amazing final dishes! 

Ghanaian Landscapes 

We learnt all about the different landscapes found in Ghana. We found out that there are three main landscapes found in Ghana: savannahs, swamps and forests. After learning about these, we worked in groups or on our own to create 3D models of one of the landscapes. 

Leeds Council Visitor 

On 29th January, we welcomed a visitor from Leeds City Council. She came in to talk to us about staying healthy and use of antibiotics. 

Sam the ‘Sound Man’

On Tuesday 16th January, Year 4 had a visit from Sam the Sound Man. Sam helped Year 4 complete a wide range of activities and demonstrations. They discussed what sound is, how sound waves work, if sound waves travel through solids, liquids and gases and how we change both the volume and pitch of a sound. Year 4 really enjoyed this practical and exciting workshop!

Making masks 

In design and technology, we have been making masks inspired by Ancient Greek theatre. Each mask included a moving part!

Christingles 

In RE, we learnt about the Christingle. We learnt that Christians use these as a symbol of Jesus at Christmas time. The orange respresents the Earth; the light represents Jesus as the light of the World; the red ribbon represents the blood of Jesus; the sticks represent both the four seasons and the points of the compass and the sweets/ raisins represent the harvest! 

17th November

Ancient Greek Day:
Class 9 spent a whole day learning about what life was like for the ancient Greeks with our visitor Catherine (or Katrina).  
We began our day by looking at a range of artefacts. For each artefact we saw, we had to make an observation, draw a sketch of the artefact, identify the materials used to make it and identify what the purpose of each was. We discussed our ideas in groups. After having time to explore all of the artefacts, we were told about each artefact in detail.  
After break, Class 9 then went back to class to complete two activities. The first activity was learning the ancient Greek alphabet. We had to work out what words were written in Greek by translating them into our language. We had Greek alphabet mats to help them decode each word. Then we discussed what each word meant and why they were important to the ancient Greeks.  
The second activity was an ancient Greek game that was called five lines. We were shown how to play and then played the game in pairs. We had to think about using a strategy to help us win. We played another game and completed an art activity too. 
After that, Class 9 learned about warfare in ancient Greek times. We looked more closely at some of the weapons and armour that ancient Greeks used during battles.  

29th October

Leeds City Museum:
On Tuesday 24th October, Class 9 had a brilliant visit to Leeds City Museum! 

We began our session with a quick overview of the Ancient Greek era. We thought about the geography of Ancient Greece, the Olympics and Greek houses. We talked about how powerful the Greeks were and how, at the end of the Ancient Greek era, the Ancient Greek empire had also taken over Egypt! 

We thought about everyday life in Ancient Greece and how childhood for ancient Greeks would have been very different to ours today! Our session leader was very impressed by how much we knew about democracy, ancient Greek education and the theatre! 

We discussed the end of the Ancient Greek era and how it ended after Alexandra the Great died with no heir. He divided the land and gave power to different leaders. After this, the Romans took control.

In groups, we then explored the 'Ancient Worlds Gallery' and gave a presentation about our favourite artefact to the rest of the class. 

It was brilliant to make links between the ancient Greeks and other ancient civilisations we have studied previously. 

We then had the opportunity to handle ancient Greek artefacts, design their own ancient Greek-inspired pottery and learn about archaeology. We did this as part of a carousel of activities, led by one of the fantastic museum teachers. 

20^th September

Artis Session One
Shine told us the story of Persephone. We looked at illustrations as she spoke to us and thought about what these told us too. We made lots of inferences about the characters. 

We then played a game called “1, 2, 3: Who are we going to be?” We pretended to be different characters from the story, carrying out different roles. We were Daphne working magic; Persephone learning of her fate; Zeus making a deal with Hades and more. 

Shine then showed us an image of the underworld. We thought of different adjectives that we could use to describe the underworld. Shine was really impressed with our imagination! We realised that the Hades’ underworld was the complete opposite of Demeter’s incredible fertile Earth. 

Our next activity was “word tennis” with our underworld adjectives. We had 5 seconds to bounce a word to our partner and have a “rally”. 

We used these words to make a “rhythm grid”. We thought of 1-syllable, 2 syllable and 3-syllable adjectives and put these together. We performed this with our voices to spooky background music. The rhythm sounded amazing! 

13th September

Library Visit 
Class 9 had a brilliant trip to Seacroft Library for a session to learn how the library worked. We listened to extracts from various texts, read by librarian Vanessa. She taught us about the different range of books available and how to borrow them! We then chose 5 books to bring back to school with us. 

Art
In art, we have been learning about, drawing and painting Ancient Greek patterns. We studied Ancient Greek pottery to get our inspiration. Next, we will be designing and creating our own painted pottery! 

Home Learning

6th October

Well done to the pupils who have been doing some home-learning about the ancient Greeks!

29th September

On Monday 25th September, Matthew Bellwood transported us back 2500 years, to the classical period of ancient Greece. We spent the day learning about theatre in ancient Greece through storytelling and acting. 

We began by learning about the festival of Dionysus which took place to celebrate the theatre. At the start of this festival, there would often be a sacrifice of a goat to the Gods. The priest/ priestess wore a crown of vine leaves. At the festival, locals would form choruses to perform songs and recite poems. Sometimes people would have dressed up and acted out the songs too. One year, a man named Thespis participated. He was the first person ever to appear on stage as an actor playing a character in a play (instead of speaking as themselves).

Annabelle came to the front to become our first actor of the day! She wore a mask like actors in ancient Greece would have done. Annabelle had to use her body to act as she couldn’t show facial expressions. We then got into groups and were each given an expression to show by creating a tableau.

We created another tableau to show how a Greek theatre worked. Matthew told us about the story of the Trojan War and chose three more actors to help. Robbie played Agamemnon, Joshua played Queen Aerope and Shaunak played Orestes.

We thought about the scenery that would have been used and how this modern word comes from the Greek word skene. In the ancient Greek theatre, there would also have been an “orchestra” which was where the chorus would be placed.

In the afternoon, we listened to the story of Perseus and Medusa. In groups, we performed different parts of the story, creating a class play.

Swimming 

Year 4 had a brilliant first swimming lesson at Fearnville Leisure Centre. They have been placed into different groups and have begun learning a range of strokes and floats. Their confidence in the water has already improved and the children are looking forward to continuing to develop their skills!

Science

In science this half term, Class 9 are learning about electricity. So far, they have learnt about different electrical components and have made their own circuits. To learn more about how electricity travels around a circuit, they also created a 'human circuit'!

Maths 
In maths this week, Class 9 have done some fantastic work on addition. They have recapped the column method and used their skills to solve a range of reasoning and problem-solving questions. 

Drumming 

This half term, Class 9 are having weekly workshops where they are learning to play the Djembe drums. They have been learning a wide variety of techniques and skills including body percussion, keeping a rhythm and striking the drum. The sessions involve fun listening games, learning sequences and performing what they have practiced! 

Launch

During the launch session of our new topic ‘Ancient Greece’, we were given five areas to research using a variety of different sources such as artefacts, images, the internet, books and information sheets. We completed quick research and recorded facts on A3 sheets. We also thought of questions we could ask about each area and recorded these.

Pre-launch

Class 9 took part in a pre-launch for our new ancient Greece topic. We recapped history topics we had studied at school previously including:

• Stone Age 
• Bronze Age 
• Iron Age 
• Ancient Egypt 
• Anglo-Saxons
• Romans in Britain 
• Vikings 

We remembered the dates of each era and placed them on a timeline. We then sorted facts about each era. We found that there many themes linking the topics including invaders and settlers; society and equality; empire and technological developments. We organised the facts on a grid for our TSU books. 
 

Next week, we will find our how these eras link to our new topic, ancient Greece!

RE

In Religious Education this term, we are learning all about festivals of light. This involves learning about festivals and traditions which take place all over the world including Hanukah, Diwali and Bandi Chorr Divas.