Welcome to Sycamore's class page. Here, you can find out what we've been up to and what's coming up. We are very excited about the year ahead and we hope you enjoy looking at our wonderful work! Please visit again soon to follow our learning journey across the year.
Useful information
PE
This term, PE will be on Tuesday and Thursday. Please come to school wearing your PE kit on these days.
Home learning
Reading - Please read to an adult at home at least three times each week. You can find comprehension questions to use at home here.
Spelling - Complete the weekly spelling assignment set every Friday on Spelling Shed. You can find further spelling resources here.
Times tables - Practise your times tables on Times Tables Rock Stars at least three times each week.
Mission jigsaw - Choose one or more of the mission-linked activities to complete at home. Please submit photos of your work on ClassDojo to share with the class!
Items to bring in daily
- Water bottle
- Packed lunch
- Reading book
- Appropriate outdoor clothing
Items to leave in school
- Pencil case
- Wellies
Term 6
Our mission question: How did flight take off?
Den building day
Today we built our own dens for teams to all fit in. It was in aid of Childcare Primary school in Uganda to raise money for new toilets for them.
Term 5
Our mission question: Why are rainforests so important?
Palm oil posters
Using the book and short animation 'There's a rang-tan in my bedroom', Sycamore created palm oil information posters.
Clay pots
We designed, made and painted clay pots inspired by native American culture.
Transporting water
In science, we looked at how water is transported in plants. We put flowers in food dye in different locations to see which would transport the water the fastest and dye the petals the quickest.
We also had 3 cups in a row. the one on each end had water with food dye in (one red, one blue). We put a paper towel from the cups with dye into the middle cup to watch the water transport and mix the dyes over the day.
Dissecting flowers
To help us understand what the different parts of flowers do we dissected tulips. We separated them into different parts and learnt about what each part does.
Fire day!
We had a great time in the forest for our fire day cooking banana pancakes and building fires.
Stop deforestation!
As the splashdown for our mission, 'Why are rainforests so important?', we wrote to our local MP, Luke Hall, sharing our concerns about the impact of deforestation. We also made placards to raise awareness and encourage others to take action.
Term 4
Our mission question: Why are rainforests so important?
The Iron Man
After reading Chapter One of The Iron Man, by Ted Hughes, we took part in a draw-along with illustrator Chris Mould. Inspired by his unique style, the author's vivid descriptions and our own imaginations, we were delighted with our illustrations of this mysterious, metal being.
Amazon rainforest weather
As part of our geography mission lesson, we learnt about the weather in the Amazon rainforest and filmed our own weather forecasts!
Cycle training
Year 4 had a fantastic time today cycle training!
What animals live in the rainforest?
In our geography lesson, we learnt about different animals that live in the rainforest. We then created our own rainforest animal fact files.
Red Nose Day
Sycamore helped to organise a fun coin trail which raised an amazing £204.51 for Comic Relief. Great work everyone! And congratulations to Red House who made the longest line of coins - a whopping 80 metres!
iPad induction
Year 5 did an excellent job of training us to use our wonderful new iPads safely and efficiently. They designed a list of helpful challenges and supported us to complete them all. Thank you Year 5!
The living rainforest trip
Sycamore class loved their trip to the living rainforest. They were able to understand what it was like in a real rainforest and the conditions there. They saw animals both free roaming and some behind glass to give a real insight into rainforest life.
Term 3
Our mission question: How is Old Sodbury similar to Bristol?
Village, town or city?
This week in our geography mission, we looked at aerial view photographs of different villages, towns and cities. From the aerial views we were able to work out which type of settlement each was. We discovered the villages were in rural locations and the cities had many different buildings.
Multiplication
In maths, we have been using place value counters to help us multiply 2 digits by 1 digit and 3 digits by 1 digit. This helped us to understand what is happening to the numbers when we multiply.
Ordnance Survey maps
Working in teams, we used four-figure grid references to locate different places and then we used map symbols to identify their human and physical features.
Compass directions
We learnt about the eight points of a compass and then tested out our skills using real compasses - we found them quite tricky to master!
Pointillism
In art, we've been learning how to apply dots of pure colour to mix in the viewer's eye... Magic!
Ahoy, me hearties!
We enjoyed listening to lots of sea shanties before working in groups to compose our own. We had so much fun performing them!
Hubble, bubble...
We invented our own magic potions and used expanded noun phrases to describe their unusual ingredients. Now, we’re preparing to write instructions for our mysterious mixtures.
Science Week
We have had lots of fun exploring magnets this week. We discovered the magnetic field of some magnets is so strong that it can travel through over 200 pieces of paper and the magnets still attract!
Term 2
Our mission question: Who settled in Britain and why?
Anglo-Saxon villages
As historians, we used secondary sources to research Anglo-Saxon village life. We then used our new knowledge to design and label our own Anglo-Saxon villages. Aren't they great?!
Design and technology
Check out our super sewing skills! We've mastered threading a needle, tying a knot and running stitch. Now, we're learning how to sew a seam with equally spaced and appropriately sized stitches. We can't wait to design and start making our Anglo-Saxon-themed money holders!
Awesome ocarinas!
In music, we're learning to play four-hole ocarinas. It certainly isn't easy but we're having so much fun! This week, we recapped the notes we've learned so far and, using special musical notation, we practised playing our first song - Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.
Viking and Anglo-Saxon dressing up day!
We had a fantastic day dressed up as Anglo-Saxons and Vikings for our history mission this term. Our highlight was re-enacting the Battle of Hastings!
Purses to be proud of!
We've finished! Well, most of us have - a few buttons and embellishments still needed on some... We're super proud of our finished products and we can't wait to take home our marvellous money holders! Take a look at our carefully embroidered Anglo-Saxon runes...
Term 1
Our mission question: Where does our water come from?
Mission launch
We began our mission 'Where does our water come from?' We started by looking at solids, liquids and gases. We investigated which fizzy drink had the most carbon dioxide in by shaking the bottles until they had gone flat.
States of matter
We continued our science this week looking at heating and cooling. We melted chocolate over 3 different temperatures of water to find out which melted the chocolate the fastest.
During our mission day we also looked at different states of water and did 3 experiments: boiling a kettle to watch evaporation and condensation; melting 2 ice cubes- one with added salt, measuring the change in temperature and melting ice cubes on cling film over warm water to watch the condensation happening.
Collage
In art this week, we've been using collage to create the illusion of movement. We thought carefully about colour, shape and texture, as well as how to position our cut-outs on the page. Next, we'll be applying our skills in a larger piece inspired by Bristol-based artist Jenny Urquhart. We can't wait!
The water cycle
This week we had lots of fun learning about the water cycle. We read the book 'Drop' who told us about the water cycle. We finished the day by making our own mini water cycles using a clear plastic cup, soil, cress and put cling film over the top to watch the water cycle in action!
Rivers
This week we learnt about the different parts of a river (we enjoyed singing songs to help us remember them!) We used atlases to help us find the rivers in the UK.
La bibliothèque
Thank you so much to FOSSA for funding our lovely new library of fabulous French books! We can't wait for our next opportunity to read them... C'est fantastique!
Mission splashdown
For our mission splashdown, we answered our question 'Where does our water come from?' with our own water cycle comic strips using the story of Drop to inspire us.
