Year 5 - Geography
We started our geography unit on mountains by revisiting past knowledge of the topic. The children’s mind maps included names of famous mountains, their height, their climate and where they are found. Then we moved onto defining a mountain as a steep landform 600m above the ground before using atlases to find the tallest mountain on each of the seven continents (the seven summits).
Year 6 - Geography
In Geography today, Year 6 explored DigiMaps to develop their mapping and geographical skills. Using digital maps, the children navigated towns and cities across the UK, locating and identifying key places. The children compared their human and physical features with those of Darwen, exploring how different environments are shaped by people and nature. The children showed great curiosity and teamwork as they discovered the similarities and differences between urban and rural areas across the country.
Year 3- Geography-Exploring Hemispheres and Weather
In Geography today, the children acted as geographers, beginning by reviewing what they remembered about latitudes before moving on to learn about the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. They then labelled seven countries on the map using a globe and an atlas, applying their geographical vocabulary to locate and describe each place. The class compared climates and weather in different countries, thinking about how the Earth’s rotation affects the seasons. For example, while it is late spring in Australia, the weather is often warm and sunny, with temperatures around 28°C in Sydney and occasional showers, whereas in the United Kingdom, it is late autumn, with cooler, drizzly days around 12°C and shorter daylight hours. This helped the children understand why it can be summer in one country while winter in another.
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Year 4 - English: Research
It was the start of our new English unit on Monday and the Year 4s were busy conducting research and collecting information about Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius. Their objective was to take keywords from each question and type them into a safe search engine in order to gather relevant information to answer the question. The children also used a range of primary and secondary sources to support their research. The children will be using this information to support their writing of stories based on a historical setting.
Year 3- Geography- Identifying lines of Latitude and Climate Zones
This afternoon, our amazing geographers have been exploring the concept of lines of latitude, the imaginary lines that run horizontally around the Earth. Using these key lines, the children identified different climate zones across the globe, from the tropical heat near the Equator to the icy cold near the poles. We focused on the extreme environments defined by these lines, learning about the Arctic Circle and Antarctica, and explored the fascinating animals that live there, too.
Reception: Muddy Monday
The children in Reception went to Jacks Key for their Muddy Monday session. They found lots of natural resources to build bonfires in preparation for Bonfire night on Wednesday. The children then went on a rainy walk and showed great perseverance and resilience. The children all worked well together and it is lovely to see them continuing to develop during these sessions.
Year 2 Geography- Continents and Oceans
To conclude our geography unit this half-term, Year 2 pupils created a quiz for the Year 3 children to see how much they could recall from studying the same topic last year. Year 2 wrote three multiple-choice questions each to test their peers’ knowledge. The questions covered topics such as the largest and smallest continents and oceans, as well as the warmest and coolest continents and oceans. They also explored geographical positioning, asking Year 3 to identify locations in relation to the compass points—for example, which ocean lies north, south, east, or west of a particular continent.
Year 4 Geography - The Amazon Basin Fact Files
Over the course of this half term, we have been studying The Amazon in our Geography lessons. Today we worked in small groups to create fact files all about different aspects of the Amazon basin. We first created sub headings which included tribes, human and physical features of South America and the Amazon river. Next the children added information to each section using their books and search engines on the Chromebook's. It is amazing to see how much they have learnt over the past few weeks and how this was brilliantly showcased in the fact files.
Year 4 English - Information Texts
Over the past few weeks in English, we have been building an information text based on The Amazon which links with our current geography unit. This week, we have been using all of the key pieces of information that we have collected and adding these to a grid which includes a page title, headings, subheadings, opening statement, diagrams. Bulletin points and text boxes. We also added in specific grammar content which included determiners including quantifiers and demonstratives, commas for clauses and paragraphs. The end product was super and the children loved sharing their examples with each other and used peer evaluation confidently.
Reception: Muddy Monday
Wow! On Monday the children in Reception blew Mrs Wilkinson's and Mrs Thompson's socks off! They walked over 2km around Jacks Key. The children listened to sounds they could hear, looked at what they could see under a bridge and used their imaginations chanting trip trap and the bear hunt story. The children had lots of fun!
Reception: Muddy Monday
Our Reception class took part in a Muddy Monday session in our school grounds this morning. They climbed trees, made mud soup and collected resources to build bonfires and dens. The children used their gross motor skills and imagination brilliantly today. Well done!
Reception: A Helicopter Discovery
Whilst playing outside, the children saw a helicopter. It was collecting water and transporting it over the moors. They were amazed and asked lots of questions to find out more about its special job.