We have been learning all about forces and friction for our science work in Year 6. The pupils have been researching more about air resistance, and how this acts as a force. We wanted to observe this in action, and so we devised our own Year 6 scientific experiment. The pupils came up with the idea of releasing two similar sized plastic toys simultaneously, but attaching a parachute to one of the item. We dropped these from the same height, and then timed how long it took for each item to land on the floor. We predicted before the experiment that the air resistance would slow down the toy attached to the parachute. You can see what happened when we released both objects in the video above.

We have been learning all about forces and friction for our science work in Year 6. The pupils have been researching more about air resistance, and how this acts as a force. We wanted to observe this in action, and so we devised our own Year 6 scientific experiment. The pupils came up with the idea of releasing two similar sized plastic toys simultaneously, but attaching a parachute to one of the item. We dropped these from the same height, and then timed how long it took for each item to land on the floor. We predicted before the experiment that the air resistance would slow down the toy attached to the parachute. You can see what happened when we released both objects in the video above.

Year 6 are incredibly proud of the drama project that we have completed with our friends from Southwark Playhouse. Stuart and Laura have been working with both Year 6 classes on a drama based piece of work that addresses different challenges that we might have to face. We started off this project by thinking about a past challenge in our life. We then acted out how this was overcome, and what we have learnt from facing up to these challenges.

Much of this work has been themed around the transition from primary to secondary school that our pupils will shortly be facing. We then moved on to think about future challenges, and what we might be able to do to be able to make the successful transition to our new schools later in the year. To document this work, Year 6 have produced a series of stunning cartoons that tell the story of the challenges from each pupil. A couple of our Year 6 class members explain more in the video above.

Year 6 are incredibly proud of the drama project that we have completed with our friends from Southwark Playhouse. Stuart and Laura have been working with both Year 6 classes on a drama based piece of work that addresses different challenges that we might have to face. We started off this project by thinking about a past challenge in our life. We then acted out how this was overcome, and what we have learnt from facing up to these challenges.

Much of this work has been themed around the transition from primary to secondary school that our pupils will shortly be facing. We then moved on to think about future challenges, and what we might be able to do to be able to make the successful transition to our new schools later in the year. To document this work, Year 6 have produced a series of stunning cartoons that tell the story of the challenges from each pupil. A couple of our Year 6 class members explain more in the video above.

Our Year 6 pupils have just started their work on researching all about the life of John Lennon. This is a project that will look at the contribution that Lennon made to music, culture and world peace. It is also tied in with our current literacy focus looking at biographies and how they can be used to understand the profile of a person.

We decided to take a drama based approach for our early research on the life of Lennon. Our pupils were introduced to the major events during his early life, and then we acted these out in the drama studio. We have found that this is a great method in helping Year 6 to put the events in context, as well as to explore the characters and motivations for the different people involved in the story.

Scenes were acted out, and then we held class discussions about how it felt to be placed in some of the situations that the young Lennon was confronted with. This work will carry on through to next term, as we continue to learn all about John Lennon and why he is such an important historical and cultural figure. You can catch some of the early feedback to this work in the podcast below.

Year 6 have been learning all about autobiographies during our literacy lessons. We have found out that this is a form of writing that is produced by ourselves, containing information all about our lives and memories. We started off our work writing short autobiographical poems. We wanted the pupils to consider some of the major moments in their lives to date.

We have continued this work by writing some very detailed full autobiographical account of our lives. To give our writing some structure, we asked the pupils to focus upon particular themes. These included hobbies, achievements and inspirations. We soon found that these often overlapped – our hobbies have lead to achievements, which have then inspired us further.

You can listen to a snapshot of these Year 6 autobiographical accounts being read out in the podcast below.

Year 6 had fantastic fun during our latest drama session with our friends from Southwark Playhouse. This is an activity that will continue throughout the term, looking at ideas of citizenship and secondary school transition.

We started off the activity by using traditional theatre techniques to help get our bodies and minds prepared for acting. These included working with partners on some improvisation, as well as some activities to help us relax with our breathing.

The actual acting for the session was centred on our own autobiographies. We asked the pupils to consider the idea of a challenge, and then to place this in the context of a past, a current and a possible future challenge. Working in groups of three, we asked the children to share these ideas with their friends. This preparation work will help us towards the overall aim of how we can work together both in drama, and during our secondary school transition.

Year 6 have produced some stunning self-portraits that now proudly form a window display in our classroom. The technique that we used for this was to combine a photograph of ourselves, and then draw a detailed image to replace half of our profile. We wanted the pupils to focus upon the use of light and dark tones to bring out our skin colour and bring out a 3D appearance in our portraits.

We have also just started a major dramatic project in Year 6. The pupils held their first session this week with our friends from Southwark Playhouse. This six-week course will address themes of citizenship and secondary school transition. Anti-bullying will play a strong part of this process.

Working in small groups we developed a series of ideas thinking about what might possibly motivate a bully, as well as thinking about the feelings of the person being bullied. The work will continue after the half-term break to incorporate a short dramatic performance.