This term we have been studying the work of Frances Hodgson Burnett and her wonderful novel The Secret Garden. Our model text looks at a description of a garden in slumber. We can’t wait to share with you our own garden descriptions. 

Check out a quick synopsis of the story...

When the spoilt and bad-tempered Mary is orphaned at the age of ten, she is sent from India to live with her hunchback uncle on the Yorkshire Moors. At first, she is utterly miserable, but gradually the friendship of her maid and the discovery of a secret garden in the grounds of the house begin to change her.

Contracted words are easy when we “brick” them together!

We noticed that we were struggling with the placement of the dreaded apostrophe.  Luckily, with a little bit of practice and some help from our talk partner we were able to fix our misconception.  Look how many contracted words we’ve created…

New Writing North

We are very lucky to welcome New Writing North back to Larkspur for the third year. Over the course of the autumn term years 4, 5 and 6 will enjoy adopting the roles of a film crew, developing new skills that can transfer to careers in the real world. Keep your eyes peeled for a peep of what they’ve been up to over the term…

Spring Term English learning...

During the Spring term children in year 6 will study The Arrival by Shaun Tan and The Piano by Aiden Gibbins.  These animations - video and book will promote discussion and the sharing of ideas around the themes of war, immigration, conflict, love, compassion and bravery.  It is from these discussions that children will create a series of independent pieces across a variety of genres including: Letter writing, poetry, dialogue and narrative.

Contracted Words with Lego

Children have enjoyed making contracted words with lego.  It was a race to the finish line with partners trying to make as many as they could in 5 minutes.  Here's their results...

Autumn Term English Learning...

We have kicked the term off with a peep into the world of The Hobbit by J R R Tolkien.

Learning about the magical world of The Shire has already got our creative writing juices flowing.  Take a look at some of our compound and complex sentences generated to build a detailed picture of Hobbiton and a hobbit hole.

Last Year's Classroom Archive

This term we will explore the fantastic animation ‘The Piano’ by Aidan Gibbons.  Here we see a lone man playing an enchanting melody on the piano and reminiscing about his life - the highs and the lows.  Pupils will create their own narratives retelling the events highlighted in the piece.

We are also looking forward to building on our connections with the residents of Chowdene Bank Care Home.  Each child has received a wonderful postcard from an elderly resident at the care home.  We will be writing letters to them over the next few weeks to brighten their day as part of our Penpal project.

Autumn Term English

Children have been immersed in the world of The Hobbit by J RR Tolkien this half term.  They have thoroughly enjoyed a series of role play and creative writing activities inspired by the text.

Harvest Festival Moon Poetry

Take a look at our Harvest Moon poem and pictures.  Click on the link below to the video resource library.

Talk 4 Writing

During the autumn term we have studied the work of JRR Tolkien. His hobbit fantasy land has been a wonderful subject to describe, full of magic and enchantment. 

Text mapping, reading as a reader, boxing up of ideas and innovating our own opening chapter has been a lot of fun.  We have thoroughly enjoyed magpieing ideas and entertaining the reader.

Volcanoes

Did you know, year 6 have became Volcano Experts?  As part of our English and Geography topic work we have set out to learn as much as we can about this dangerous land form.   Pupil have immersed themselves an a range of research materials to develop a secure understanding of how volcanoes erupt and how they form.

Using publishing skills they have created their own Volcano fact pages, full of exciting and interesting nuggets of information to engage the reader.