Welcome to Fox class! Our teacher is Mr Humber, who has been teaching for seventeen years, the last nine of which have been at Bedwell. He is really good at art, history and maths, and he says his favourite things are rugby and pizza!

• Our curriculum map - find out about our current topics
• Our latest school newsletter
• Meet our school councilors, Dylan and Nicole

Home learning ideas:

• All of the maths we’re doing this term is dependent on quick recall of tables facts, so it would be brilliant if you could work on this. Focus on one table at a time and try: 
  • Making-up rhymes to help remember number facts (“4 x 6 is 24, bears growl and lions roar!”) 
  • Looking for numbers in that table in the world around you - on doors, car number plates, in phone numbers or when you’re out shopping. 
  • Writing-out tables with finger paints, chalk or water-on-tarmac, or make them from playdoh. 
  • Chanting, singing, whispering... Say tables out loud together whenever you have the chance.
• Each week we are set spellings to learn. Click here for guidance on strategies you can use to support your child in learning these at home.  
• All of the computing tasks we’ve worked on in class are available at microbit.org. There are links to the MakeCode editor we’ve been using, loads of ideas in the projects library and lots more info about these clever devices. 
• In history we are learning about the Ancient Greeks, which provides lots of opportunities for learning beyond the classroom - particularly linked to Greek Myths, which are full of amazing characters. There's lots of video and information to get you started available on BBC Bitesize here.
• Our work on life-cycles is a great excuse to watch some of David Attenborough's fantastic nature documentaries together, a huge number of which are available on the BBC iplayer.    

Our latest news:

• This term, we have been busy studying the work of the famous sculptor, Henry Moore. To begin with we found out about his life and work, before studying pictures of his sculptures and trying to work out what they represented. Before we moved onto our design phase, we visited Barclay Academy to view a real-life Henry Moore statue called ‘Family Group’. We spent some time sketching it from different angles and were very pleased with our efforts. After designing four different sculptures out of playdough, we then used modelling clay to create our final pieces of art. 
 

 
• With great excitement, Years 5 and 6 ventured to Hogwarts at the Harry Potter Studios in Leavesden. We started off with a creative writing workshop, where some secrets and tricks of the trade were shared with us. Then, after entering through the magical Great Hall, we were able to talk to experts about props, costumes and makeup, fly on a Nimbus 2000, walk inside the Hogwarts Express and experience the effects that were used in the films. Diagon Alley, Gringotts Bank, the Dursley’s House and the Forbidden Forest were all there for us to explore. 
 

 
• Everyone in Year 5 and 6 thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the Bikeability project, which took place in May. Led by instructors from the HCC Cycling team, we all completed Level 1 training, learning to ride safely and control our bikes on the playground. The vast majority of us then progressed onto Level 2, which saw us heading out and about on local roads. As the week went on, each group went on longer and more complex rides, exploring local roads, learning to recognise potential dangers and getting used to riding on roads with other traffic. By the end of the week, 82 children had completed the course, and we were all presented with certificates and badges as a reward for our hard work.
 

We have been learning about... 

Art : Carnival Masks - Our first art project of the year was linked to our geography unit on Brazil. After learning about the Rio Carnival we were tasked with designing and making our own carnival mask. Each mask needed a theme (nature, fire, ice etc) and it had to be big, bright and bold, just like the masks used in the carnival. As you can see we were really successful with this!

This term's topics

English - Our first unit is based around The Misadventures of Frederick by Ben Manley. This story is written as a collection of letters between Frederick and his friend Emily, and we will use it to focus on persuasive writing techniques. We will investigate the use of hyperbole and modal verbs, and will then use these skills to write persuasive letters of our own. After that, we will switch to explore non-chronological reports, using The Sea Below My Toes, by Charlotte Guillain, as our starting point. We will revisit the use of headings, subheadings, brackets and bullet points to organise our writing, and will then write our own reports, linking in with our trip to the Science Museum.

Maths - Now that we have secured lots of our arithmetic skills, this half-term we will be focussing on fractions and measurement. We will learn to compare, order, add and subtract fractions, and will link these to equivalent percentages. After that, we will explore different ways to measure length, mass and capacity and develop our ability to convert between units. We will investigate area and volume, learning to calculate the volume of cubes and cuboids by measuring the length of their sides. We will also continue to develop our understanding of angle and our ability to both measure and calculate unknown angles. Throughout the term we will also continue to develop our quick recall of tables facts.

Science - Our next science topic will see us investigating the life cycles of lots of different living things - from mammals to amphibians to insects to birds. We will identify the different stages that each creature goes through, and explore similarities and differences between them all. This will also link in with our Big Talk sessions in March, helping us to learn about human life-cycles.

Humanities - We will be continuing our exploration of Ancient Greece, and learning about their Gods, wars, myths, clothes, theatre and governments. We will also be looking carefully at how this civilisation fits into the timeline of periods we already know about, and considering how Greek civilisation influenced those that followed (particularly the Romans), and how we still use Ancient Greek ideas (and words) today. We will also be exploring Greek Gods and myths, which will tie in with our work in English.

Take a look at our curriculum map for more information on our topics.