Term 2
WW1 Workshop
Can we thank the year 6 classes at Vale View and St. Martin’s School for joining us in our World War 1 workshops? We chatted; sharing our learning, our opinions and creating art and drama together. We had a brilliant time together and look forward to more interactions with our Whinless Down comrades in the forthcoming football tournament and carol concert this term.
Haka
Year 6 have been learning a dance called the Haka – a Maori war dance – during our PE this term. It has been great fun and the footballers wanted to roar it out at the Whinless Downs Year 6 football tournament, but we thought it might scare the opposition too much!
WW1
In our creative curriculum work on World War 1, we have been looking at the lives of soldiers in the trenches. We bought into hard reality, the casualties of war in graphs and even represented them with Singapore counters and number blocks. A devastating loss of life.
But why did they go to war and how did they feel about it when they got there? To answer these questions, we had a deep dive into propaganda used in the war. Additionally, we wrote diaries, letters and accounts from The Somme.
A major project was our compiling of fact files about the use of animals in the Great War and their treatment. It was a sad eye-opener and corresponded closely with out class reader, War Horse by Michael Morpurgo.
Remembrance Day
Following the learning lift off where we made poppies, Year 6 commemorated remembrance day by the memorial in Dover town centre. We laid wreaths that we had made and discussed the war with ex-soldiers who had fascinating knowledge to impart. It was a truly memorable and poignant moment. For Valour Class who had researched and presented an assembly about WW1 the day was incredibly memorable.
Topic Maths
In topic maths for this term, we have dusted off the protractors and launched into angles work. We are already fabulous at it!
WW1
This term we are researching World War 1 and the many questions is poses. When was WW1 and how has this impacted on life today? How and why is it remembered? What were the long-lasting effects of WW1 and how did this lead to the Second World War?
For our learning lift off, we have made poppy wreaths and created our own poppies using wire, clay and paint. We intend to display them on the fence of the school for remembrance day. We have just started researching the role of horses in World War 1 which is a great link to our class reader this term, War Horse by Michael Morpurgo.
Poppy Making
We made clay poppies and a poppy wreath for Remembrance Day.