Welcome to Team 6N!
Mysterious Mayans
Our class read this term...
This gripping tale of twin twelve-year-olds, Verity and Ethan, who travel to Guatemala with their father, is packed full of archaeological intrigue. Whilst excavating a newly found Maya city, an ancient mask is discovered. Is the mask the cause of the end of the Maya civilisation, or is something more underhand going on? Will these children find out the answer as they deal with danger, kidnap, excitement and mystery? After the earlier death of their mother, the children have to deal with problem-solving as independent young minds in the confusing world of a foreign country. What will it take to succeed?
For our stunning start we were transported back in time to Mesoamerica.
We ate like the Mayans...
We learnt how to write our names just like the Mayans...
The Mayans had their own language and their written communication was very different to us. They used Glyphs that represent single spoken sounds (like phonics) that are combined to make words - much like our language. The Mayans had about 800 symbols. Archaeologist have figured out what many of the symbols mean, but not all of them. To read Maya glyphs, you read downward, left to right, in pairs.
We used our clay skills to create a Stela...
Mayan stelas are huge stone slabs with Maya glyphs and drawings on them. Stelas have told archaeologists a great deal about the ancient Mayans as each told a story. Some historians refer to the stone structures as stone trees.
Fair Trade Fortnight
As part of Fair Trade fortnight 6N spent the afternoon learning what Fair Trade is and why it is important to support it.
We watched a clip ‘The Guardians of the Rainforest’.
In the Gola Rainforest of Sierra Leone, a group of cocoa farmers work hard to protect their way of life, their beautiful forest and their livelihoods. Through having a better and more secure income, they can farm in a forest friendly way and protect their beautiful home from the threats of deforestation and biodiversity loss. The story is told by 14-year-old Gbassay, whose family have been cocoa farmers for generations.
After the clip we were set the task of creating a presentation to present to the class about everything we had learnt.
SATs Spelling Practice Hangman Style!
This term's class read is...
Featuring Fred, Con, Lila and Little Max, whose plane is on the way to Manaus, when it suddenly falls out of the sky. Now, lost in the bewildered Amazon Rainforest they must figure out the basics of survival.
With no hope of rescue, the chance of seeing their home again feels highly impossible. So, do they wait for rescue which may never arrive or find a way to rescue themselves?
Although, it seems that someone has already been here before them?
The Explorer is the proud winner of the Federation of Children’s Book Groups Children’s Book Award and The Younger Reader’s Category.
In English this term we have been busy writing our own adventure stories using our class read 'The Explorer' by Katherine Rundell as a model. We also had the the opportunity to write letters to Katherine; we included interesting questions as well as telling her what we enjoyed about her book. Hopefully she'll reply with some great tips for us as writers.
Jungle Fever
It was a very exciting start to the new term for team 6N. We arrived in class to the sound of some bizarre jungle music as part of our Stunning Start for this term’s theme ‘Jungle Fever.’
First up we watched a fascinating episode of Our Planet narrated by David Attenborough that took us on a journey deep into the jungle. Who knew that elephants mine for salts using their trunks and a baby orangutan takes more than ten years to become independent? Following this,we answered true of false statements based on the programme.
Next up it was quiz time jungle style; with team names sorted we worked our way through various rounds including jungle sounds, film, and jungle general knowledge. Did you know that 50 million people are thought to live in the world’s rainforests? Also, 70% of Brazil is covered by rainforests!
In the afternoon it was time to let our creativity shine with jungle themed art. Wow – we have been truly amazed by the incredible artwork the children have already produced since starting Year 6.
We worked on a joint project and painted strips of paper, which will be pieced together to create a mysterious jungle image.
After that, with the aid of books and the internet, we researched animals that live in the jungle and zoomed in on a part of the animal to create our own ‘close-ups’ of jungle animals.
The Great War
When we arrived, we discovered a tatty, old brown suitcase, sitting on the table.
What could be inside, we wondered?
Carefully opening the case, we found a variety of artefacts; from old photographs
to newspapers.
We soon realised we would be learning all about The Great War – World War 1.
Then it was time to get creative…We had a great afternoon making poppies for our amazing class displays, as well as painting some dramatic background for our silhouettes of war.
Next was challenge time!
How many facts about The Great War were true… We worked in pairs to discover the truth.
As part of this term's DT lessons, we were given the opportunity to spend the day at Guilsborough Secondary School where we baked our scone recipes which we created at school in preparation for today. Most of us went for sweet over savoury, with chocolate of some kind being the top favourite in 6N.
Here are our final bakes...
This term's class read is...
It was Christmas Day in the trenches in France during World War One and a remarkable football match took place. British and German soldiers put down their weapons and took up a game of football instead. For one day, the enemies are friends: they talk and play instead of fighting. But, the war isn’t over and next day they pick up their weapons and the lads from Suffolk are ordered to go over the top…An astonishing story beautifully told in words and pictures…