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Hintlesham and Chattisham
C of E Primary School
Diamond Class 2022
Welcome to the Diamond Class website page.
Diamond Class is Year 5 and 6, taught by Miss Self.
We are supported by Mrs Beckett Debanks and Mrs Debanks
Diamond Class
Long Term Plan
Our PE days in the Autumn Term are Tuesday and Friday.
Please remember to put on suncream, bring in sun hats and water bottles!
Summer Term 2
The last half term of the year was a very busy one for the class. Here are just a few of the things we got up to:
River Stour trip
We were lucky to finish off our Science and Geography learning for this term, with a trip to the River Stour Trust. On an already very wet Friday, we had the opportunity to operate the lock, take a boat ride along the river and pond dip. We also learnt about the history of the River Stour and the types of cargo that has been transported it over the past 150 years. We used our knowledge of the classification system to classify the creatures we found.
Porridge!
Our end of term production was a resounding success! A comedy tale about a crime wave in Happy Valley. The children worked extremely hard to learn all of their lines and the songs. The end result was enjoyed by all and was a fantastic ending to a year in which they have all worked so hard!
Design Technology
This term our challenge was to design and make a seasonal salad. We tasted a range of seasonal vegetables, such as new potatoes, beetroot, beans and peppers. We selected the ones we enjoyed, to include in our pasta salad. We used our skills to chop, grate and cook the vegetables and added extras, such as dressings and herbs, to add flavour. Some of us had never made a pasta salad at home and we all agreed we had developed skills that we would use again at home!
Summer Term 1
Wow! What a busy start to our Summer Term! Here is a snapshot of what we have been up to:
SATs
During the week of the 8th May, children in Year 6 took their SATs - they came in early for SATs breakfast club and then the tests began. All of the children worked extremely hard, both during the week of the tests and while revising!
Design and Technology - Marble runs
Our DT learning for this term, was a challenge to make a free-standing structure. To be successful in this challenge, we needed to understand what would make the structure stable and design it carefully to ensure it was strong. Once we had finalised our designs, we used our skills to create joins, bends and slots with tools and equipment. We also needed to consider the aesthetics of the marble run and work together as a team. Most of our marble runs worked well, however, some adjustments were needed! We evaluated our structures afterwards and gave each other constructive feedback.
Tuesday by David Wiesner
You might think that a Tuesday night would be peaceful, boring and quiet.... not if you live in Yawnsville! Strange occurrences were reported in the early hours, lilypads littered the streets, reports of flying frogs - whatever next? Our roving reporters were straight out to interview witnesses for their newspaper reports - read all about it!
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Marble runs.....
Spring 2
First Aid training for Year 5 and 6
As part of the PSHE curriculum, children are expected to learn basic first aid skills. What better way to be trained in first aid than to learn from a Nurse! We have been lucky that Nurse Steph has been able to come in and work with us and that the costs have been funded by the HSA. Nurse Steph worked with each year group for an afternoon to train them in valuable skills, which will benefit them in their future lives. As you can see from the pictures, the children enjoyed learning how to give CPR, treat bleeds, burns and scalds as well as many other skills. They also learnt how to call for help in an emergency and how important it is to stay calm and reassure your patient. We are hoping that Nurse Steph will return this term to complete some follow-up work with the class.
Maths Cafe
This half term, Diamond Class hosted a Maths Cafe to provide an opportunity for families to join their children in school for some challenging problem solving activities based around the book '365 Penguins' by Jean-Luc Fromental. We listened to the story before tackling a variety of penguin-based problems!
In Art this half term we have focussed on printing.
We used polystyrene blocks to make a reduction print - this process involves layering a printing block, rather than indenting it. We used tissue paper to layer the blocks and printed using primary colours, in the style of artist Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy (1975-2012).
This term, we have been studying Earth and Space in our Science lessons. We discussed how scientific ideas about space have changed over time, we researched facts about the planets and put them in order using fruit to represent their sizes, as well as creating mnemonics to help us remember their places. We have considered the work of the scientists Ptolemy, Copernicus and Galileo, built on our understanding of light to explain why we have day and night and used ICT to help us investigate the time and weather in different time zones across the world. We made models to help us explain the movement of the moon.
Spring 1
In our English lessons, we were inspired by William Blake's 'The Tyger' to write our own poem about a tiger, expressing our own opinion on this majestic or fearsome creature. We focussed on using figurative language such as similes, alliteration and metaphors and considered how to use rhyme and rhythm appropriately.
Autumn 2
In our English lessons this half term, we began by reading the opening to the story ‘Goodnight Mr. Tom’ by Michelle Magorian, about an evacuee’s arrival at their new home. We studied the success criteria for our setting description, including point of view and perspective, dialogue including direct speech punctuation, expanded noun phrases, the technique of ‘show, not tell’, as well as exciting sentence starters and varied sentence construction. We described the homes and the village where the evacuees had arrived. Next, we focussed on creating a non-chronological report on the topic of World War Two. We looked at the organisational features of a non-chronological report, the passive voice and how adverbs are used within paragraphs to create cohesion. The class then chose their own areas of interest to research before creating their own report. Finally, we focussed on a Christmas advert called ‘The Man on the Moon’ and created our own characters which we described in detail, as if looking through the lens of a telescope. Throughout the term, we have been using our new writing journals in earnest to collect ideas and extend our thoughts from lessons and school trips to support our experience of the writing process.
In Music, we have been studying a unit called ‘How does music bring us together?’ We have listened to and appraised a soul song called ‘Do What You Want To’ and a pop song called ‘It’s All About Love’. We focussed on singing by heart, improvising a short melodic phrase, playing on tuned percussion and composing, performing as a whole class and in smaller groups.
Trip to Duxford
Autumn 1
English
In English we have been learning about performance poems. We started off by listening to some poems by David Harmer, Rachel Rooney and Jack Ousbey. We got ourselves into groups, we were working on the poem called Gran, can you rap? After everybody was ready, we took it in turns to perform our poem to the class, it was so much fun and it gave me an amazing idea for my own. Afterwards, we made our own poem. We had to use onomatopoeia, alliteration, direct speech and prepositional phrases. We based them on Gran, can you rap? For example, I made mine Santa can you rap, here are a few lines: Santa was in his sleigh with a present when I tapped him on the shoulder to see if he could rap Santa can you rap? can you? That was the start of my poem. By Ella
In English we have been learning about performance poems. We were asked some questions, for example, how did the poems make you feel? and what features did you notice in the poem? We performed Gran can you rap? We also wrote our own performance poems, concentrating on onomatopoeia, alliteration, adverbs, personification and lots more. I will now show you a few lines of my own performance poem. Little red hood trotting down the street, carrying a basket of delicious treats. By Annie
Maths
This term we have been developing our calculation skills and applying them in different ways. During 'Maths at the Movies' week we had an exciting lesson. We used the film Monsters Inc to solve as many types of reasoning and problem solving question types as we could. For example: Mr Waternoose's assistant says they lost 58 doors last week, how many is that per day? If the trend continued, how many would that be in 1 month? How about in a year?
French
We have been learning, in Diamond class, about the different body parts of a monster. We also needed to name the colours of the body part. We listened to some songs in French. We had to work out what the song was about. Next we did bingo with the body parts of the body and our teacher called a body part out in French and we had to cross it out if we had it on our bingo sheet. We also wrote sentences in French and we had to write negative sentences and plural sentences about a monster we saw on the board.
By Ava and Harrison
Summer Term 2
End of Year Production 'Greece Goes to Pieces'
In History, we have been learning about Ancient Greece. Our end of year production took the audience on a journey back to 431BC, where they heard about the Peloponnesian War and the battle between the Athenians and the Spartans. They met some famous Greek philosophers, saw the first Olympics and heard the sad tale of Theseus and the Minotaur. What an amazing performance it was from Years 5 and 6!!
Aylmerton Residential
We set off on a 3 day residential to Aylmerton feeling very excited! When we arrived, we found found out that we were sleeping in bunk beds with 4-6 to a dormitory, we had to make our own beds up! On the first day, we completed some 'pirate training' activities - these included making fire, team building to cross a zip-line and den building, (all while being squirted with super soakers by our teachers!). As the sun began to set, we went for a woodland walk to Felbrigg Church, we were allowed inside to listen to a 'spooky' story from our guide 'Miah Man', which we all enjoyed! Once we returned to the centre, we drank hot chocolate and said goodnight.
The next day, we travelled to West Runton, which is famous for its rock pools and 'mammoth'. We searched in the rock pools for fossils (such as belemnite) and creatures. We then took off our socks and shoes and paddled in the sea, we laughed and splashed around together. That evening, we had a disco, the DJ played lots of our favourite songs and even the Teachers danced!
On our final day, we went into Cromer to complete a town trail, which finished at the pier. We had ice-creams and lunch on the pier, it was sad to have to say goodbye and come home!
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Click on the arrows to see what we got up to!
Summer Term 1
Art
In art we have been experimenting using a range of textiles and media. We researched the work of Antoni Gaudi and developed a batik design, which we then used to print images onto.
We also experimented with a range of weaving, using both man-made and natural materials.
Quad Kids U11's
We also attended a Quad Kids tournament at Hadleigh High School. We competed against other schools in running, jumping and throwing. We came 2nd out of 5 teams!
Netball
This term we have been busy getting back into sports competitions! We took part in a Bee netball competition at Ipswich School Sports Centre. 18 children from our class represented the school. 2 children were awarded a Fair Play award.
Spring Term 2
In Science, we have been learning about inheritance and variation. We learnt that inheritance is the name for the passing of traits, or characteristics, from parents to offspring. Variation occurs in a species from generation to generation. Although an offspring will have some similar characteristics to its parents, it will also have many different characteristics.
To help us understand these concepts, we used Mr Men and Little Misses. Here are some of our offspring:
Diamond Class trip to West Stow
As we arrived, we looked up at the village on top of the hill, we couldn't wait to look around. Our group started at the family house, inside was a raised wooden block, with woollen blankets. We learnt that they were used as beds, there would have been up to 10 family members sleeping in the small room. There was a fire pit in the middle of the room, for warmth. It must have been very smoky! We looked inside the farm house, the weaving house and then Lance (our guide) gave us a demonstration of how the Forge was used. We then looked at the Oldest house, it was interesting because there were odd ways to shut the windows an the bed looked like a coffin.
After looking around the Anglo-Saxon village, we met up in the Hall and Lance explained the history of the site and people had a chance to ask questions. We asked about the Sunken house and he explained that Anglo-Saxons might not have built houses close to the ground as it would have been too cold inside.
In the afternoon, we looked around the museum. When we entered, we saw an animal skin hanging by the door, I thought it was a coyote but it was a wild boar skin. The cabinets were full of artefacts that had been found on the site and lots of information. In one of the cabinets was part of a real jaw-bone!
The final part of our day was an activity to look at artefacts and guess what they were. We held a brooch, a cleaning set, a piece of roof tile, a spear-head, a shield boss and a door lock.
I learnt that the site was also lived on by Romans and people in the Middle Ages. Some of the Oak wood houses can stand for at least 65 years.
by Maya, India, Toby, Harrison, Cobey, Vinnie and Evie.
Spring Term 1
In Science this term, we have been developing our understanding of electricity. We investigated different ways that static electricity is generated. We learnt that static electricity is an imbalance of electrical charge, in the atoms, on the surface of an object. Objects are then either attracted to, or repelled by other objects.
Beowulf vs Grendel
Would you be brave enough to take on the beast? Our English learning this term has focussed on the story of Beowulf by Michael Morpurgo. We
considered the skills and attributes a
person would need to take on a beast
like Grendel. How would we persuade
anyone to apply for the job? Have a look
at some of our job adverts; would you
apply?
PSHE and Safer Internet Day - in our class we know how important it is to stay safe online. Sometimes it can be tricky to keep our social interactions positive. We listened to some examples of children playing games together online and discussed whether the interactions between them were positive or negative. We then considered each scenario and the advice we would give to the children involved. We created our own rules for an online game, that would help the players to keep social interactions positive and fun.
Autumn Term 2...
In DT this term, we have been developing and refining our sewing skills! We have designed a felt case for a mobile phone. We needed to choose which sewing stitch would be best for us to use when making our cases, so we practised a running stitch, backstitch and an overcast stitch. We had to be very patient and resilient, particularly when threading the needles!
Our class assembly:
It was our turn to present our class assembly at the beginning of December. We were really proud to share our learning with the rest of the school and our parents. In music, we have been appraising and learning to sing/play 'Livin' on a prayer' by Bon Jovi. We had also learnt to sign the words. We surprised everyone with this at the end of the assembly.
Victorian Experience Day
Our History topic this half term has been Victorian childhood. We learnt about what it was like to be a child in Victorian times and that children often had very different experiences, depending on their background. Some children didn't even get to go to school, they had to work in dangerous factories or find other work such as farming or chimney sweeping. On our experience day, we came into school dressed as a Victorian child, we chose Victorian names which we used for the day. As we came in we had handwriting practice using chalk and black paper – it was very hard to write! We learnt some latin phrases, for example scientia potentia est which means ‘knowledge is power’. The teachers were really strict and quite scary! If children were badly behaved they would be hit with a cane or slipper. In maths, we practiced our times tables by reciting them out loud – we really enjoyed it! Then we completed arithmetic questions. In the afternoon, we played Victorian games, like jacks, pick up sticks, chess and tiddly winks.
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