This term our topic is “Maafa”. Throughout this topic, we will learn about Africa today and the ancient kingdoms that thrived on the continent for thousands of years. We will learn about the origins of the transatlantic slave trade in the 15th century and Britain’s involvement from the time of Elizabeth I, when John Hawkins became the first British slave trader. Your child will understand the structure of the transatlantic slave trade and the consequences of enslavement for enslaved people. We will also discover how the people of Britain benefited from the money and goods produced by the slave trade. We will learn about the causes and consequences of the abolition of slavery in the 19th century, the worldwide African diaspora and the European colonisation in Africa. We will explore the lives and actions of black people in 20th century Britain. We will understand how the Race Relations Act of 1965 became the first piece of British legislation to tackle racial discrimination and know that the Equality Act 2010 provides people with protection against racism and other forms of discrimination, today.
To find out more, view our Maafa Knowledge Organiser.
Other helpful documents
Note that this class is currently comprised of multiple year groups. English, Maths, Computing, PHSE, Music and French lessons will have different content for each year. Please ensure you select the correct year group below.
From a geographical perspective, we will learn about the geography of Greece affected the development of city states and explore Athens, learning about the structure of the government and society.
| Churchill Class Homework Grids | |
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Term 1 Homework Grid |
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Term 2 Homework Grid |
Our Religious Education lessons will continue to be based upon our “Love to Celebrate” projects. Basing the “Love to Celebrate” projects around festivals, gives a real-life context to the children’s learning and a structure to the projects. However, the celebration itself is only a small part of each “Love to Celebrate” project. Each set of projects covers all major aspects of each religion including worship, belief, leadership and belonging.
Please view our “World festivals and Celebrations Calendar”.
Term 1: Buddhism – Dharma Day
Dharma Day, or Asalha Puja, is celebrated in July by Buddhists around the world. The word Dharma means teaching and Dharma Day commemorates Buddha's first sermon in the Deer Park in Varanasi, India, over 2500 years ago. Buddhists celebrate Dharma Day by studying Buddha's teachings and feeling graduate for what they have learned. For the key words and vocabulary associated with this topic, please view our “Dharma Day Glossary”.
Term 2: Islam – Ramadam and Eid al Fitr
Muslims fast from dawn to dusk during the holy month of Ramadan. After each day of fasting, many families share iftar, their evening meal, together. All Muslims who are old enough and well enough are expected to fast. School and work life carries on as normal, even though no food or drink is consumed during daylight hours.
Eid al-Fitr comes at the end of the fast and is an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide. During Eid al-Fitr, Muslims spend time with their families, eat together, celebrate as a community and thank Allah for the help, strength and self-control he gave them throughout Ramadan. For the key words and vocabulary associated with this topic, please view our “Eid al Fitr Glossary”.
Art: Colour in Landscapes
Our art topic for this term is “Colour in Landscapes”. Throughout this topic, we will learn about colour theory by studying tints, shades and tones. We will learn about the features of landscapes before using this knowledge to create landscape paintings. To find out more, view our Colour in Landscapes Knowledge Organiser.
Art: Taoti
Linked to our linked to our Dynamic Dynasties, this project teaches children about the significance and art of the taotie motif, including ancient and contemporary casting methods. To find out more, view our Colour in Landscapes Knowledge Organiser.
Design and Technology: Moving Mechanisms
This project teaches children about pneumatic systems. They experiment with pneumatics before designing, making and evaluating a pneumatic machine that performs a useful function. To find out more, view our Moving Mechanisms Knowledge Organiser.
Forces and Mechanisms
In term 1, our topic is “Forces and Mechanisms”. In the Forces and Mechanisms project, your child will revisit prior learning about forces, identifying what a force is and discussing the two types, including contact and non-contact forces. We will learn that gravity is a force of attraction and follow instructions to observe gravity in action. We will learn the meanings of the terms 'mass' and 'weight' and their units of measurement, following instructions to record the mass and weight of various everyday objects using a piece of equipment called a force meter. They will revisit learning about friction, discussing situations where it can be helpful or where we need to minimise its effects. They will learn about the frictional forces called air and water resistance in detail and conduct investigations to observe these frictional forces in action. They will learn about mechanisms, including gears, pulleys and levers and follow instructions to investigate how these simple machines use forces to make tasks easier. They will generate scientific questions they wish to study further on the theme of forces and mechanisms and research to find the answers. They will complete their learning by examining the forces involved in riding a bicycle and the parts that are gears, pulleys and levers. To find out more, view our Forces and Mechanisms Knowledge Organiser.
Forces and Mechanisms Lesson Overview
| Lesson | Learning focus |
| 1 | Introduction to Forces and Mechanisms: Knowledge organiser and Contact and Non-Contact Forces. |
| 2 | Gravity |
| 3 | Mass and Weight |
| 4 | Friction |
| 5 | Air resistance |
| 6 | Water resistance |
| 7 | Levers, pulleys and gears |
| 8 | Levers, pulleys and gears. |
| 9 | Gears |
Other helpful documents: Forces and Mechanisms Glossary
Science: Earth and Space
In term 2 our topic is “Earth and Space”. In the Earth and Space project, your child will, we will learn the names of the planets in the Solar System before creating a model outdoors to describe its scale, movement and features. We will learn how scientists throughout history used different methods to study the Solar System and came to understand how the planets orbited the Sun. We will make a model and use it to explain the orbits of the Moon around the Earth and the Earth around the Sun. We will identify the spherical shape of the Sun, Earth and Moon. We will learn how people in ancient civilisations believed the Earth was flat and how evidence proved the Earth was a sphere. They will know that the Earth's rotation creates a range of phenomena, including day and night and the appearance of the Sun rising above the horizon in the east at sunrise, moving across the sky and then setting below the horizon in the west at sunset, and use equipment to model these phenomena. We will learn that the Earth's tilt and rotation as it orbits the Sun creates different seasons and day lengths in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres and the effect of similar amounts of direct sunlight all year round in the tropics. They will research the times of day on the Earth in different locations and describe how Earth's rotation creates this phenomenon. They will learn about the Moon's orbit and name and explain the eight phases of the Moon. They will research how solar and lunar eclipses occur and create labelled diagrams to show their findings. To find out more, view our Earth and Space Knowledge Organiser.
Earth and Space Lesson Overview
| Lesson | Learning focus |
| 1 | Knowledge organiser and the solar system. |
| 2 | How do we know the sun is at the centre of the solar system? |
| 3 | The earth, sun and moon model |
| 4 | Planets and start are spherical |
| 5 | Daytime and night time and times of day around the world. |
| 6 | Day length and seasons |
| 7 | Phases of the moon, lunar and solar eclipse |
Other helpful documents: Earth and Space Glossary
Reading
Our Class Text and Comprehension
In term 1 and 2, our reading comprehension lessons will be based upon our class text, “Bronze and Sunflower” by Cao Wenxuan. In this story, Sunflower has moved to the countryside in China with her father. As her father works all day, Sunflower feels lonely. She watches the river and the people across it who live in a village called Damaidi. She meets a boy called Bronze from Damaidi and the two become friends. When a tragic event brings Sunflower into Bronze’s home, the two children must work together to survive the hardships of village life. To find out more about this text, view our Bronze and Sunflower Knowledge Organiser.
We will also focus on poetry during term 1. We will broaden children’s exposure to texts from other cultures. Children will develop their summarising skills and discuss how language and structure contribute to meaning and effect. In addition, the children will perform their poems with appropriate intonation and movement.
For further information about the reading skills we will focus upon this term, please view “Churchill’s Sequential Reading Curriculum”
Independent Reading
In class, we will continue to use the Accelerated Reader program. For further information about this, please view a Parent's Guide to Accelerated Reader. (https://help.renlearn.co.uk/AR/ARParentGuide) If you need your child's AR password, please contact me (Mrs Saunders).
Writing
Over the course of the autumn term, we will be writing and creating a narrative poem, based upon a Chinese folktale; writing a biography, about Cheng Tang ; and writing a short narrative, based upon stories from other cultures.
Firstly, we will use our historical knowledge of Chinese folktales to write a narrative poem. Throughout this project we will develop summarising skills, discuss how language and structure contribute to meaning and we will work to enhance the effect of their poems by using figurative language and expanded noun phrases.
Having learnt about Fu Hao and studied his biography, we will then write biographies about Cheng Tang. Writing a biography gives children the opportunity to select appropriate sentence structures and relevant details from their research. They will include relative clauses to provide additional detail.
To conclude our writing in the autumn term, we will write a short story based upon stories from other cultures (for example, Shang Surprise). Writing a story from another culture allows children to create characters, settings and plots that are rooted in the customs and traditions of another country. Children should also include a science fiction element encompassing time travel. They could use cohesive devices to link the plot and a variety of verb forms for clarity.
For further information about the writing skills, we will focus upon this term, please view “Churchill’s Sequential Writing Curriculum”
Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling
Punctuation
This term, we will use a colon to introduce a list; discuss and use commas, semi-colons and colons to separate clauses effectively; discuss idea of ambiguity, when meaning is not clear; model and practice punctuating parenthesis, using pairs of commas, dashes or brackets; identify ellipsis in texts, edit deliberate punctuation errors; and revise use of possessive apostrophe for singular plural nouns
Grammar
This term, we will learn about types of nouns; expanded noun phrases; identify synonyms and antonyms; revise possessive pronouns; accurately use relative clauses; read and enjoy poetry, comparing its use of sentence structure and punctuation with that of prose; write different types of poems; revise four types of sentences; and identify modal verbs.
Spellings
During our spelling lessons in term 1 and 2, we will revise instances where the root word does not change when adding a suffix; revise adding -ing, -ed, -er, -est and -y to words ending in -e with a consonant before it; revise wordswords containing the letter-string “ough”; learn words from the Y5/6 word list; revise the suffix –“ment” -“ness”, “ful”, “less”, “ly”; revise adding suffixes beginning with vowel letters to words with more than one syllable; add suffixes beginning with vowel letters to words ending in - “fer”; revise homophones and other words that are often confused; learn words from the Y5/6 word list; revise the suffix “cious” or “tious”; and revise endings spelt “tion,” “sion,” “ssion,” and “cian”
For an overview of our weekly breakdown of our spellings, please view our Term 1 and Term 2 Homework Grid.
In addition to these weekly spelling rules, we will continue to learn and spell words from the Year 5 and 6 statutory spelling list. For an overview of these spellings, please view the Spelling word list for Year 6.