Welcome to Sycamore Class

Hello! My name is Miss Pountney, and I am over the moon to be teaching Sycamore class again this year alongside our fantastic Teaching Assistants – Mrs King and Mrs Nuku!

This year we have got some big, fun plans for Sycamore class, and I can’t wait to experience all of this with a lovely new class! We will start the year off with our Farm to Food topic, where we learn about moving vehicles, ask questions, test different materials, and not only design, but build our very own moving vehicles! In term 2 we will be learning about the incredible things that Mary Seacole and Florence Nightingale did to improve wellbeing and care in hospitals, I have got some very exciting plans for this topic! Of course, on the run up to Christmas we will be rehearsing for our Nativity, and in term 3 after Christmas we will start our Seaside's topic where we will learn all about the geography of the seaside. In Term 4 our topic is called Castles and Dragons, during this term we will be learning about the geography of the world and what it was like living in a castle. The artist Wassily Kandinsky is our focus in term 5 and we will be learning all about him, his artwork, and even making our own Kandinsky inspired clay plates. In term 6 we will be learning all about the Victorians and we will have our very own Victorian day in school.

Throughout the year we will also be brilliant scientists, asking questions and creating investigations on a variety of topics including Everyday materials, floating and sinking, seasonal changes, plants, and animals. All our writing will be linked to our topic work so you can look forward to writing about an unsuitable pet in term 6 and creating seaside postcards in term 3! When it comes to our maths learning we will continue to learn in a hands-on practical way as well as introducing a more formal learning approach.

I can’t wait for another incredible year in Sycamore class!

Mary Seacole day

This term in Sycamore we have absolutely loved our history learning! We have been learning all about Mary Seacole. She was a nurse who helped soldiers in the Crimean war, however she was treated differently because of the colour of her skin. We had a Mary Seacole day in which we learnt more about her and where she was from. Mary was from Jamaica, so we learnt all about Jamaican music and played some instruments that are often used in Jamaican reggae music. We made some Jamaican rice and peas which was very tasty! We also had a go at making some traditional herbal remedies, just like Mary Seacole would have done!

Term 1 in Sycamore Class

This term has been a very exciting one in Sycamore class! Our DT topic this term has been about moving vehicles. We have been looking very carefully at the different parts of moving vehicles and how they work. We looked at how we can make structures stronger and used sweets and cocktail sticks to discover that triangular shaped structures (or jinx frames!) are much stronger than square shaped structures. We had a go at measuring the wood that we needed for our moving vehicles, and then we got to use a glue gun to make our moving vehicles! Finally, we tested the vehicles to see if they matched our design brief: To move using a wheel and axle, to have a bright and colourful design, and to carry a piece of fruit across the classroom. All of our cars were successful!