Larch Class
2021-22
Useful Information
Summer Term
Blogging in Computing
In our new topic, the children will be designing and creating their own blog. Today, we discuss the key features and what makes a good blog along with the style of writing used.
Using a live collaborative document, the children typed their own thoughts to what our class success criteria could be, whilst being able to see what others were typing. Afterwards, these were discussed as a class and the final success criteria was agreed.
The class can’t wait to get started on their own blogs next week 💻
Muffins and fruit were the order of the day
SATs breakfast
Larch and Willow enjoyed the afternoon together playing netball and taking the warm up session.
Science - The Circulatory System
This half term we are studying the circulatory system and learning the different parts and functions of the circulatory system and how it enables our bodies to function.
Today we learned about the heart: its different parts and how it functions. To further our learning, we got to physically see, hold and explore a pig's heart which is similar to a human heart. Well done to those children who put themselves outside their comfort zone and gave something new a try.
Spring term
We ended this terms PE unit of Tag Rugby with a mini tournament.
Congratulations Jess on winning Larch class Easter egg competition.
tiny plays, BIG IDEAS
We had a wonderful afternoon at the Theatre Royal watching playscripts written by children from 13 local primary schools. It was such a great experience to see these plays come to life. Congratulations to Harry for having his play 'Anti-Gravity' chosen from our school!
Well done to all of Larch Class for receiving your swimming certificates.
School Heritage Project
On Tuesday, 10 children from Year 5 and 6, who had been selected to be ambassadors for the school, attended the School Heritage Project along with children from other local schools.
The children had a tour around Abbey Gardens where they learned about the history of the Abbey. They then moved on to Moyses Hall where they heard the story of the local Red Barn Murder, with all of its gory details, before moving on to smell a variety of disgusting smells!
After lunch at the Cathedral, the group went to the Guildhall where they were able to go into the actual war room which was used during the Second World War. Following that, they attended two mock trials where they were asked for their opinions on the verdicts for the two people on trial!
Finally, they returned to the Cathedral where they were given a tour which included lying on the floor of the altar to look up at the new tower as well as hearing many very interesting facts.
These children will be sharing their experience with the rest of the school and using it to devise a performance piece in drama club, this will then be included in a celebratory event on 29th June in Abbey Gardens.
Science
This week we learned the different electrical symbols that are commonly used. We then had to check a series of diagrams with these symbols to make sure they made a complete circuit and test them out.
Science
Today, we continued our learning of simple circuits by introducing a switch. We used a switch to operate our lights, buzzers and motors. We even had a go at creating our own switch in class.
Humanities
We have moved on to the Bronze Age in our humanities. Today the children learnt lots of facts about Stonehenge and thoroughly enjoyed re-creating it in clay.
Stonehenge
Celebrating Red Nose Day and Help Ukraine. So far we have raised over £700
Danger! Low Voltage
This half-term we are developing our understanding of electrical circuits including using correct electrical symbols and making our circuit more complex. Today, we had fun making simple circuits and understanding the science of what is happening when we do.
Music celebration at Snape Maltings
Tiny Plays, Big Ideas
We have been busy today typing up, editing and revising our play scripts!
World Book Day
The children really enjoyed sharing their puppets based on a character from one of their favourite books.
Our class winners are Daniel and Polly. Well done both of you!
Little Plays, Big Ideas
Today we had the Theatre Royal in to help us develop our ideas for our upcoming play scripts.
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Here’s a taster of one of our songs for Snape. You’re in for a real treat!
Friday morning practise
Year 5 and 6 enjoyed their first session together withMr Whitman, our music tutor. They sang, played and ate “Crazy Day” snacks.
PE
As well as swimming this half term, Larch class have been focusing on gymnastics. They have worked on various different types of rolls, balances, vaulting, cartwheels and bridges.
Art
Art has been linked to our Humanities topic of “The Stone Age”. In order to really appreciate the caves, the children laid under the tables, on their backs and drew creatures from that time. Using chalks and pastels on crumpled paper, we were able to create our very own cave within school.
Years 5 & 6 thoroughly enjoyed their film night. They watched “Space Jam 2”, had snacks all in order to raise money to go towards their residential.
Group 2 - Look at our amazing apple crumble. It tasted delicious and the staff would agree !
Homemade pizza by group 2
The children made their own pizza dough. They learnt to kneed the dough, cut the toppings with a sharp knife using a bridge and claw method.
They tasted delicious 😋
Cooking club Group 2 making cheese and courgette muffins
Leavers hoodies! Year 6 were given their leavers hoodies today. What a lovely array of colours they have chosen.
Cooking club
Group one made apple crumble on their final week. They learnt to peel, core, cut using a bridge and claw, weighing and rubbing method.
The children evaluated their work which included tasting an apple crumble Mrs Utting had made. The overall rating was 9 out of 10.
Computing
Our new topic is spreadsheets and we’ll be learning how to use Excel. This week, we explored the different features including cell references, how to enter data as well as being able to understand new vocabulary.
Science - Reflecting light
In science, we talked about how light travels and reflects off mirrors. We used torches and mirrors to learn about incident rays and reflection rays. We then made our own periscopes and had fun spying on our friends with them.
Look at our delicious pizzas we made at cooking club.
Cooking club made cheese and courgette muffins.
Exploring screen time in Computer online safety
Larch class were asked to complete a screen time record card every day for a week. Each child entered their information into database fields, allowing us to produce various graphs and charts to show the whole class results.
Autumn Term
We also had a very special visitor to end a magical day!
A fun morning was had by all, starting with decorating the table cloths, then the fun of some treats supplied by all staff in UKS2, ending with an absolutely delicious Christmas dinner, yummy!
Christmas jumpers were a spectacular vision today in Larch Class
Art Work up on display, pen drawings of fish alongside block printed ocean fish. We are extremely proud of the results of our “The Seaside” art topic.
Making crumble carts in Computing
Larch Class took over the whole school assembly this morning. Well done to everyone who worked out housepoints, asked staff who the award was being presented to this week, announced birthdays and wrote everything up in Mrs Burrell’s folder. You are amazing!
Children In Need.
PE
Technical planning and problem solving in OAA
Using a motor to make our character move.
Lest We Forget - Larch class paid their respects at 11am today during break time.
Computing
The children can now program a sparkle to flash various colours, using a loop code. Today we added a push button to our circuit to be able to use the if/then command. When the button was pushed, the sparkle lights would either turn off or change colours, depending on their instructions.
Trying gymnastics today delivered by Mr Noe from Premier Education.
Computing
The children were tested with their programming skills to create various code blocks. This included changing the colour of the LED light, altering how many times the crumble flashed and the duration of how long the light was on and off for.
In Computing, we can now block program our Crumbles so the sparkles change colour.
Computing
As part of our physical computing lessons, we began to explore Crumble controllers and some of its associated components. We took a closer look at each item and learnt how to connect some of the parts together.
Jess was awarded the teachers award this week for her amazing effort in all we do.
Art We have started our art topic of The Seaside. We started by pencil drawing the outline of fish, next we will be adding the detail with a black biro pen.
Youssef was awarded the teachers award for persevering with his handwriting. Well done Youssef.
This year for music we are learning to play the flute. For our first lesson we needed to learn to assemble and clean the instrument. During this lesson we all managed to make a sound come out of the mouthpiece.
Music
Keeping a beat by marching around the room.
1st teachers award assembly. This week Mrs Sledge awarded the certificate to the whole class for settling into year 6 so well.
One of this halfterms PE lessons is football. The first few lessons will be focussing on skills needed.
Year 5 and 6 enjoyed their first afternoon together, playing Danish rounders.
2020 - 2021
Summer Term
Fantastic fun was had by us all on our last day! Pizza (thank you Xeno and your parents), shirt signing, certificates, autograph books and lots more.
Our names were added to the wall of fame in Larch Class.
We had a fantastic afternoon playing a rounders tournament with Willow class.
Sports day winners!
Well done Red House! A fantastic week of sports.
Year 5 & 6 sports day
A fun, competitive afternoon was had by all children in UKS2. They competed against, encouraged and cheered on each other with such enthusiasm it was a delight to watch. Well done to all for showing what a great two year groups they are. The races competed in were 500m, 200m, relay and of course the much loved Tug of War.
The TAs cooked a lovely breakfast for years 5 and 6 and all staff. Children had a choice of egg, bacon and sausage or a mixture of all three in a roll.
Go Ape
Larch Class had an absolutely amazing day at Go Ape in Thetford Forest. Each and every child did not stop smiling, they all had so much fun. Some were swinging through the tree tops like little monkeys, while others conquered their fears and slowly made their way through. They should all be extremely proud of themselves, not only for their wonderful behaviour but also for the way that they worked together as a class to support and help each other.
Boogie Bounce
Larch Class were excited to welcome Boogie Bounce into school today. They were put through their paces in half hour sessions. All children thoroughly enjoyed themselves and were happy to be able to keep their special Bounce socks.
POND LIFE! This year, Year 6 wanted to leave something behind for the school to remember them by. After much discussion it was decided that they would sort out the pond area in a bid to make it more usable for everyone. This week we started by clearing out all the rubbish and a lot of the slime from the water. What a difference less than an hour had made!
This term we are using our DT lesson to learn about Slippers, how they are made, designs, function. We are designing and making our own slippers. In these pictures we are just in the prototype phase.
We’ve had an extra cute class member join us in our learning.
In year 6 we like to work hard but also play hard.
Xeno was awarded the teachers award this week for fantastic blogging in computing.
PE Cricket
1st lesson of cricket
Working on overarm throwing and catching.
English
For English this week we have been writing a play script of a scene or two that we chose from the book War Horse. We could choose to work in pairs or independently. We have produced some amazing play scripts (according to Mrs Sledge, Mrs Woodley and Mrs King), in order to do such a great job we had to think about; cast, props, setting the scene and of course the dialogue.
Music
We have been working hard in our brass music lesson.
Hoodies
An exciting day today, Larch class received their leavers hoodies. They all look amazing, just like a rainbow in the vast array of colours.
Spring term
Computing
In our new topic Blogging, we have been planning our own blog and today we created it on Purple Mash. Each child had chosen their own subject and will begin adding to their blog over the Easter holidays. They had to design an icon and background cover along with writing a description about their blog. We can wait to read a few when we come back
Toby received the teachers certificate today for writing a fantastic character description.
Red Nose Day
The children joined in with fun of comic relief day by coming into school in crazy clothing. There was lots of hair gel, sequins, colourful spots and stripes and laughter throughout the school.
Autumn term
Christmas dinner and jumpers
Christmas dinner day means Christmas jumper day at Ickworthpark Primary School. Larch class looked splendid in all their festive jumpers. The children decorated their tablecloths ready for their wonderful Christmas dinner. After lunch we watched the production that the whole school took part in, it was fantastic. This was followed by a very special visitor (virtually). It was a fabulously fun day today.
This week the weather was not kind to us for our PE lesson so Mrs. Woodley introduced us to a game played indoors many years ago. We set up individual tables with books for nets, hands for bats and table tennis balls for a game of ‘Whiff Whaff’ - a version of table tennis! We absolutely loved it, the noise level however was at times unbearable!!
Computing
Our new topic is 3D modelling, where we have been designing and making 3D Christmas decorations to hang on our tree. Also, we have made our own Christmas wrapping paper with matching tags, using 2paint on Purple Mash. Look at our amazing work. We can’t wait to take it home to wrap some presents.🎄 🎁
We were lucky enough to be invited down to the church to look at the crib exhibition. There were some extremely beautiful cribs there. The church had over 100 cribs on show, many from all over the world.
Xenofon was awarded this week's teacher's award for fantastic participation in UK2 Christmas recording. Very well done Xenofon.
This week have started thinking about getting our classroom Christmas ready. The children have thoroughly enjoyed making paper chains and giant snowflakes.
