Junior – Page 4 – Toftwood Infant and Junior School Federation

History Summer 2 2023

What is oral history?

Oral history is a way to learn about past events from the spoken stories of people who lived through them.

This can be with family members or members of the community. It generates and preserves historically interesting information – a primary source material.

We wrote letters to the residents of Sanford House care home in Dereham to see if they would take part in our oral history activities. We asked them questions about their school day memories.

We learnt that many of the residents struggle with their eye sight or holding a pen so they had help to type their letters. They told us that our letters brought smiles and giggles to their faces as they evoked many lovely, long-forgotten memories.

It was interesting to make comparisons between our school days and theirs’. A lot of facts about school life during war time will help us with our other learning in history.

Lifecycles Year 5 – Summer 1 2023

Year 5 have been very lucky to have the opportunity to have cared for some ducklings as part of their science and living things topic.

Five eggs were delivered and kept in an incubator and the children made close observations, daily, in their diaries. We have been studying the lifecycles of birds, animals, insects and amphibians.

A week later, they were allowed to swim in a shallow pool. The children enjoyed watching them use their webbed feet as they had learnt about these when studying water resistance in the Spring Term.

After their swim, we watched them drying and preening themselves in the sunshine and pecking at the grass. The children were very relaxed, watching them exploring their new environment.

Rockin’ Ukes

The Toftwood School Ukulele Group were so excited that, when Jeff Rich from Status Quo came to give some drumming workshops, he signed some ukulele music for us so they made a little video for him!

The King’s Coronation Celebration

The children at Toftwood Infant and Junior School have had a celebration fit for a king!

The Federation came together for two days of activities and a special lunch to help celebrate the King’s Coronation. To mark this important occasion, the children dressed were invited to dress up in red, white and blue or as a king or queen.

Over the course of two days the children took part in lots of fun activities including crown making, creating Union Jack flags, learning to sign the National Anthem and naming photos of the royal family. Year one children will also be writing to King Charles next week. A special assembly to commemorate the King’s Coronation led by Janet Marshall took place at both schools.

Children were invited to participate in a competition to decorate a Coronation rock. We were very impressed with the individuality of the children designs which included a corgi, a crown and the Union Jack flag. The children have been given the opportunity to take their rocks home or place them in the community in Toftwood or Dereham. Perhaps you will find one of the special rocks when you take a walk around the locality.

On Thursday we had a special federation picnic lunch which we were lucky enough to have outside and all together. Seeing the children outside laughing, playing and enjoying their time together was a wonderful sight.

What a wonderful two days we have had celebrating such an important historical event and special time for our country. Hopefully very memorable for all the children and staff. A big thank you goes out to our wonderful lunchtime and kitchen staff for their hard work.

$P:\Photos for Evidence\King's Coronation\RP2 Kings Coronation Photos\IMG_4340.JPG$

Music KS2 Spring 2 2023

Children in Year 3 have continued to gain more ukulele skills and are now playing the chords of Am, F and C and moving between these chords to accompany songs. They can strum and pick different rhythms. Baboushka (not the Kate Bush song, unfortunately) and Tab Tango really put their abilities to the test!

In Year 4 this half term, we have been following the Charanga English Model Music Scheme and looking at the unit “Creating Simple Melodies Together”. The children have used recorders and glockenspiels to play songs such as Let Your Spirit Fly and Frère Jacques. They have been working hard on their recorder technique, in particular focusing on how to hold the recorders in the correct position when playing.

Year 5 Have been the first to try a new feature on Charanga – Yu Studio. This online sequencer allows the children to build electronic beats, basslines and melodies in much the same way as most professional producers do. They have been guided through this process and have made their own Hip Hop tracks!

Year 6 have been focusing on the key question: ‘how does music teach us about our community?’ as a link to the social theme ‘music is a builder of community and guardian of cultural identity’. We have been listening and responding to a variety of songs such as ‘Let’s Rock’, ‘Simple Gifts’ and ‘Friendship Should Never End’. This has helped us to sing along by clapping and moving to the rhythms we have heard. We have developed our performance skills by working together in groups to perform parts of the song.

Science Spring Term 2023

Year 3

In Year 3, our focus in Science was Mary Anning in Spring 1 and rocks and fossils in Spring 2. First, the children made their own fossils and excavated using tools. We learnt how to identify igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks from their physical features and this helped us to remember how each rock was formed.

$C:\Users\LJacobs\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.MSO\92C55240.tmp$ $C:\Users\LJacobs\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.MSO\8BEBB24E.tmp$ During Science Week, we explored the science of making toothpaste! We agreed that a good toothpaste should kill bacteria, have a nice scent and stay on the toothbrush! We carefully mixed ingredients to make our toothpaste. We then needed to think scientifically to plan a fair test to compare our own toothpaste to branded toothpastes. Finally, we collected the results in a tally chart and presented the results in a series of bar graphs.

Year 4

Year 4 have loved learning all about electricity this term. We have been creating simple circuits out of bulbs, wires and cells and discovering the scientific symbols for each component. We even tested which switch works best in order to switch our light bulb on and off the quickest!

More recently, the children have been using their geographical knowledge of maps and mountains alongside their scientific knowledge of electrical circuits to create electrical board games! They have put a lot of thought into the bright, eye catching design of their games and we have discussed how important it is for our “wires” (made from foil and masking tape) not to cross over so that the circuits are complete and the games work properly. The children have loved researching different mountains in Europe and then plotting them on their maps. Some of them were surprised to learn about the mountains we have in the United Kingdom!

Year 5

During the Spring term, Year 5 have looked in depth at Forces. The children can now explain balanced and unbalanced forces. Making links to their Autumn term learning, they know that gravity was first discovered by Sir Isaac Newton and that the measure of force is named after him, and that we can measure the force of gravity with the use of a Newton Meter.

When working scientifically, the children had fun experimenting with different types of helicopter blades to see which ones offered the greatest air resistance and so stayed in the air longer. The children were able to make a prediction, as well as draw conclusions from their findings.

They could then build on this knowledge to show their understanding about water resistance. The children enjoyed working scientifically and learnt many skills such as managing variables (controlled and independent) to keep tests fair and reliable.

Working scientifically, the children enjoyed experimenting with how friction can act as a force, creating heat, and how this can be a hindrance or important in terms of safety. Forces were also investigated in terms of gears and pulleys.

Year 6

This term Year 6 have been investigating the theories and scientific research around Evolution and Inheritance. We have studied Darwin’s theories on this and looked at adaptive traits (creating our own species for a given habitat) and inherited traits (how offspring might vary and why). Following Darwin’s theories we created our own experiment where we investigated how hand shape could affect an animal’s ability to eat, which the children thoroughly enjoyed.

We investigated how fossils are created (making our own) and then how these can help and expand our understanding of the evolutionary process in different species (our research into Mary Anning also supported this). With all this knowledge and understanding we then looked at how our own species has developed and evolved over time.

Our final area of research and investigation was around extinction and how many different factors can affect the animals that live, or have lived, on our planet. With the children writing a report about an animal, thought to be extinct, that has been spotted locally! Could there be hope that this species is still alive?

Computing Spring Term 2023 – Juniors

Year 3

This term we have been building on the concept of sequence as ‘a set of instructions read from beginning to end’ whilst learning the fundamentals of the Scratch coding platform. We have opened example programs and explored how a sequence of blocks will make a Sprite move across the stage. Pupils have been writing a program to move a Sprite around a maze with arrow key inputs and they have worked hard to debug any errors in their sequence of code.

Year 4

In Year 4 pupils have explored how a repeating sequence of instructions can be grouped together and repeated several times as a loop. We then looked more deeply at different types of loops: infinite loops that run forever and count-controlled loops that run for a given amount of time.

Year 5

In Spring, Year 5 have been focusing on coding as well as using data bases. When coding, we used Scratch to make a questionnaire. The children worked with their partners to use condition and selection. When using databases, the children were able to filter data numerically, as well as alphabetically. They were able to search databases to filter data about mini beasts and dinosaurs. The children were able to explain that computer databases were much easier to sort as opposed to paper data bases.

Year 6

Year 6 have been working on Spreadsheets. We used MS Excel to input data, write formulas and copy the formula across to fill in cells. We have also used the data and formulas to complete different input and outputs from this.

Music Key Stage 2 Spring 1 2023

The term got off to a great start with an interactive online performance from the highly entertaining Tim Brain, introducing children to instruments from around the world! Some Year 3 children said:

Scarlett – I loved hearing Tim play the ukulele, he was really funny!

Jessica – I liked it when we flew to Japan to play the drums.

Immy – I liked him playing the samba whistle, it was amazing!!

Children in Year 3 have been very excited to start learning to play ukulele as a whole class ensemble, building up from the basics of learning to name the parts of the ukulele and how to hold it correctly, to beginning to pick and strum the open strings. We particularly enjoy, ‘That thumb brush strum’ and a great version of ‘It’s raining, it’s pouring’ which includes a rap and dance breakdown in the middle!

In Year 4 we have been learning to play the Glockenspiels. The children learnt a new song and how to keep in time with the rhythm of the music.

Once they were confident they used these skills to learn how to play the song on the glockenspiels. The children loved learning about tempo and particularly loved challenging themselves with increasing the tempo of the song from 50% to 100%.

At the end of the module, the children rehearsed their song and performed it to the class.

In our music lessons, Year 5 have been answering the question – How does music improve our world?

We have listened to and considered three songs during the topic; Freedom, All Over Again, Do you ever wonder?

The children enjoyed learning and performing the songs as well as developing their ability to improvise and play along to the songs.

Year 6 have been focusing on the key question: ‘how does music improve our world?’ as a link to the social theme ‘music is a changemaker’. We have been listening and responding to a variety of songs such as ‘Disco Fever’, ‘La Bamba’ and ‘Change’. This has helped us to sing along by clapping and moving to the rhythms we have heard. We have used the glockenspiels to play along with the music which was a challenge at certain points! We have developed our performance skills by working together in groups to perform parts of the song.

Music Key Stage 2 Autumn 2 2022

The term running up to Christmas is always a great time for Music in school and this year has been no different.

Parents of each Year group were treated to performances of Christmas Songs and poems with all children participating. In Year 3 a group who had been practising at lunchtimes also performed ‘O come all ye faithful’ and ‘Jingle Bells’ on ocarinas!

Children joined the online pantomime provided by the Norfolk Music Hub – This year it was ‘Peter Pan’ and children had spent some time learning the songs so they could sing along!

“I loved the booing and the singing.” Olivia

“I liked that I had learned some of the songs.” Daniella

“I liked doing all the actions.” Lexi

“I liked the singing.” Amy

Year 3 have been using there ocarina skills to learn some Christmas songs and Carols in their Music lessons and all made fabulous progress reading notes from music and becoming more proficient players.

Year 4 have been looking at how Music acts a storyteller from the past connecting us with history through songs such as ‘Perdido’ and ‘Scarborough Fair’, and how use of dynamics and change of tempo can affect that story.

Children in Year 5 have had a concentrated unit on recorder instrumental skills. Using traditional Christmas carols, they have increased their knowledge of musical notation and focussed on the musicianship needed to play in an ensemble.

Year 6 pupils have used recorders and glockenspiels to play ‘Singing Swinging Star’ and ‘My Best Friend’ and have responded to these with their own improvisations and compositions.

History Spring Term 2023

Year 3 have been enjoying their Stone Age topic. They started their learning with an important timeline of events as chronology is an important feature of our learning.

On Monday 9^th January, Year 3 had a visitor to introduce our new history topic, the Stone Age. We began the day by considering how far back in time the Stone Age was. We used a tape measure and had to imagine that each year was worth 1cm. It was an incredible distance from our lives now! We learned about how the Stone Age can be divided into three different time periods: the Palaeolithic (old stone), Mesolithic (middle stone) and Neolithic (new stone).

Next we talked about all sorts of animals that lived Britain around 12,000 years ago. We were allowed to hold some real objects such as a wolf’s rib, a cave lion’s jaw bone and a hyena’s fossilised poo!

After that we discussed the different types of Hominids that used to live on Earth and we discussed how early humans have changed over time. We loved looking at models of some of their skulls and even tried on masks to make us look like early Hominids! We took part in an activity that showed how our brains can reason and imagine and how that separates us from other animals. We looked at a diagram of our brains and which part helps with different processes and responded using our reflexes.

Our visitor showed us different types of weapons and compared them to ones we have now. We saw spears and axes and how spears could be hardened in a fire and discussed how tools were developed to have handles and make them more deadly weapons.

After lunch we had a competition where 2 tribes had to try to rebuild Stonehenge. It was all about team work and we considered how the Stone Age Britons might have been able to move stones as heavy as a bus for hundreds of miles! We then got to handle objects such as an obsidian knife, stone-age string, a shark’s tooth and real bronze-age children’s toys!

Finally we took part in a fishing competition as fishing would have been such a key element of hunting during the Stone Age. Our three classes had to pass the caught fish all the way to the other end before the points could be counted. In the end it was a draw between CT3 and SW3! It was a great day and our visitor commended the children on their knowledge and behaviour.

Demetria: “it’s been fun because we got to find out about lots of animals that lived in the past.”

Dylan: “I thought the visitor was very funny and taught us lots of new things.”

Isla: “I really liked handling the objects especially the meteorite.”

Their cross curricular work resulted in some fantastic cave paintings. They were fascinated to discover that historians still do not know how cave paintings started, but the four main theories are:

To decorate caves
To communicate a message to other people
As part of a good luck ritual before a hunt
To keep a record of events like important hunts

The children tried to create their own message through their cave style art, for others to decipher.

As well as art, the children made DT links when they designed and built their own model Stone Age house by joining and moulding clay.

This term, Year 5 have enjoyed studying the Mayan civilisation. They enjoyed studying artefacts and experienced seeing what it would be like to be an archaeologist, discovering new items, trying to work out what materials were used and what purpose, each one might serve. We even have some replicas which they could handle in the class museum.

They have learnt about how their society was structured and what lifestyles were like for different groups of people. They were very interested in considering the importance of different types of achievements and inventions, expressing which ones we considered the most significant and justifying our choices.

The children also had fun learning about the many different gods, and their powers, summarising their understanding in the form of Top Trump cards, which they then played against each other.