This term we are travelling back to Ancient Greece to investigate the legacy they left behind. We will be finding out what made them such a strong civilisation and looking into some of the key Greek figures who have made an impact on our world. We will be finding out about life in the different city states to compare and contrast lifestyles. We will use primary sources to explore the Ancient Olympic Games before creating our own pottery depicting scenes from the original Olympic Games. We will also be investigating other aspects of their civilisation.  Through our Design Technology unit, we will be investigating Greek architecture and structures before looking in more depth at how to build a bridge using different strengthening techniques.

Whilst exploring a range of Greek Myths, our class text this term is Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan which explores some Greek myth themes throughout. The main character Percy discovers that he has god-like abilities and he accidentally vaporises his teacher! We are going to be using this learning to help us write our own myths in English. During this term, we will be getting into the full swing of rehearsals for our production of Aladdin. We cannot wait to perform to you all!

Week 1

This week has been a very busy start to the term. Year 6 have been out on their residential trip to Mill on the Brue. We started off with a trek up Glastonbury Tor for a picnic at the top before heading to Bruton for 3 days of activities: canoeing, high ropes, assault course, zip line to name a few. We were really impressed with their behaviour throughout our time away and were proud to hear from the instructors how much they had enjoyed teaching them.

Our year 5s meanwhile had been busy with Mr George, taking part in a project based on our topic. Well done year 5 for stepping into the shoes of the year 6s whilst they were away!

Week 2

It has been a busy (and hot!) week in Year 5/6 this week. We have begun our topic based around Ancient Greece, where we have been looking at how the size of Greece has changed between then and now. We have learnt about important dates from this period of history and have been able to plot these on a timeline. In writing, we have been continuing to look at Greek Myths and learn about their tone and structure. We enjoyed reading the story about Perseus and Medusa and have been able to retell the story in our own words. Year 5, have been busy completing end of year assessments this week and have worked hard on these (especially in this heat). We have been continuing to rehearse for our production of Aladdin and we are starting to see some great acting on stage. We will be holding a bake sale next Wednesday to support raising money for the production. Please bring in a cake (or 2!), if you can, to support.

Week 3

We have continued to read and enjoy a range of Greek myths in English this week and have been comparing different versions of Theseus and the Minotaur. We have also written the dramatic scene where Theseus enters the labyrinth, determined to put an end to Athen's torment: having to sacrifice 7 Athenian boys and 7 Athenian girls. We have also written a description of the fearsome bloodthirsty beast. In Maths, Year 5 have been investigating the properties of 2D and 3D shapes and reasoning about them.  Year 6 have been working on word problems involving percentages. In our topic work, we have been looking at  democracy in Ancient Greece and comparing that with modern democracy as well as looking at the different gods and goddesses.