A jam-packed January
This half term we have been very busy while focusing on our new theme titled, The Swinging Sixties. The children have really enjoyed and embraced everything that we have learned and have a really clear understanding of the chronology, politics, events and popular culture of the time.
English
In English we have been looking at reviews and responses. We have been art critics, food critics, TV talent judges, sports commentators and much more over the last few weeks. We focused on extending our vocabulary to support our positive and negative opinions and on using the passive and active voice when writing sentences.
Maths
In Maths we had a lot of fun discussing 3D shapes and incorporated this into our Art and Geography lessons by making a 3D model of our Solar System. We also learned about data handling and really enjoyed surveying our classmates to display information more effectively.
Gaeilge
During our Irish lessons, we looked at what schools looked like throughout the years and talked about what school might have been like in the 60s. We also learned about our stíl pearsanta and feisteas in the topic of ‘Éadaí’ and linked this to other areas of learning too!
SESE
We had so much fun investigating magnets and their real-life purposes during our scientific investigations. Our Geography lessons were out of this world! We learned about our solar system and the planets in it. We also looked at the role the sun has to play on seasons, atmospheric conditions, day and night and how important it is to plants and animals on Earth. History – We learned a lot through our theme on the 60s but some ideas that we explored in more detail include homes in the past, the 1960s Space Race, ‘Beatlesmania’ and celebrating Martin Luther King Day.
Art, Music / Drama, Learn Together / SPHE
There were so many highlights this month, from looking at 60s peace songs like Blowin’ in the Wind by Bob Dylan and Imagine by John Lennon to ‘hotseating’ famous 1960s celebrities. Some of our Night at the Museum projects really came in useful this term! We also looked at the solfa notes and gained inspiration from 60s musicals like The Sound of Music. The Learn Together theme for the month of January was Peace and fit together beautifully with our 60s theme. We practised some yoga, a practice that became popular in 1960s America, talked about the civil rights movement and about freedom fighters. We even came up with our own peace symbols. We had lots of fun with our Art lessons over the last few weeks but the most popular were undoubtedly some of the 60s themed art lessons including Tie Dye printing and Pop Art portraits inspired by Roy Lichtenstein.
