Elder Class Page
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Welcome to Elder’s class page
Elder are now in their final year at Horniman Primary School, and with fantastic topics, exciting experiences, school journey and our end of year production, it’s going to be their best yet!
Scroll down to see what we’ve been up to…
Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror
By Chris Priestly
If you enjoyed this, why not try…
A terrifying collection of short stories told by Edgar’s mysterious and eccentric Uncle Montague.
We’ve been creating illustrations inspired by those in our core text, ‘Uncle Montague’s Tale of Terror’.
Our new text: The Land of Neverbelieve
By Norman Messenger
A visually stunning ‘non-fiction’ fiction book, Messenger’s beautifully illustrated and written book documents his visit to a mysterious island, full of wondrous and weird flora and fauna. We’;; be having fun creating our own creatures and trying out different styles of writing about nature, including Attenborough commentary writing, letters to the zoological society and promotions for a new animal exhibit, to create our own reports that are both informative and entertaining.
If you enjoyed this, why not try…
Our illustrations inspired by ‘The Highwayman’
The wind was a torrent of darkness
The Highwayman
Our new core text is ‘The Highwayman’ written by Alfred Noyes. This poem is a classic and great for getting your creative writing ideas flowing!
The tragic and dark, yet beautiful and even romantic story unfolds in the 18th century, where the Highwayman comes riding, riding, riding, up to the old inn door…
If you enjoyed The Highwayman, why not try…
Art: Final pieces
Art: Final pieces
We’ve been manipulating and carving clay to sculpt life-like hands using wire and clay. We look at the work of Auguste Rodin and Antony Gormley, experimenting with line, form and shape.
DT: Haunted houses electrical project
We’ve begun our new DT project. Our brief is to make a haunted house suitable for a KS1 child. We are working in pairs, and have started generating ideas for what could go inside our spoooooky (not scary!) haunted house.
DRAMA: The Arrival
We worked in pairs to generate dialogue between the main characters, focusing on expression, gesture and actions to create different interactions
The Arrival
Our first core text of the year is Shaun Tan’s ‘The Arrival’ - a moving, beautiful wordless picture book.
The story unfolds in an unfamiliar land, with Tan inspired by images of immigrants arriving at Ellis Island. It’s the perfect book to immerse ourselves in to learn more about our topic, Migration.
If you enjoyed The Arrival, I recommend you try some of Tan’s other books:
Learning in year 5:
Elder enjoyed an informative visit to The South London Liberal Synagogue. They met Rabbi Nathan who taught them all about traditional clothing, scriptures and celebrations within Judaism. The children asked some very interesting questions and had the opportunity to think about what community means to them. Florence even spotted a photograph of her neighbours who are an important part of the synagogue community!
Science
Elder enjoyed an informative and fun workshop with Zoe. They learned about how plants can reproduce sexually and asexually and how these processes occur. They also had the opportunity to plant some mixed leaf seeds to enjoy later in the term as part of their DT cooking project. In their weekly science lesson with Ms Hashmi, they then used real flowers to identify key male and female parts of flowers which enable the process of reproduction.
Immersing into our text: Robot Girl
Ms Dhiman told us about a ‘new invention’ that was in the basket but hidden.
She gave us 3 clues to begin with and we had to think of questions which could help us gather more clues. We then made predictions of what the invention could be or what it could be used for.
Children’s Mental Health Week February 2023
This year’s theme was Let’s Connect. We went outdoors to make self-portraits using natural materials - it was enjoyable and quite relaxing. Can you guess who some of these portraits belong to?
NSPCC National Number Day 3rd February 2023
We experimented with high intensity exercises to see how our heart beat speeds up and slows down.
Poetry, Poetry, Poetry!
We have been learning how to write poems and have been inspired by ‘Love that dog’ by Sharon Creech.
We went outdoors to gather ideas and vocabulary to help us write shape poems about our local Lewisham streets.
Shape poems coming soon…
I have never started a poem whose end I knew. Writing a poem is discovering.
Robert Frost
Making Mini Christmas Trees with Assunta who has exceptional crafting skills!
Visit to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre
We built squares in maths to learn what a square number is. Can you name all the square numbers up to 100?
In Autumn term, Elder class had the opportunity to take part in weekly workshops learning all about Climate Change, led by volunteer leader Connor from the Climate Ed organisation. They learned what green house gases are, how they are produced and the impact they are having on our planet. The children thoroughly enjoyed the sessions and gained a better understanding of how to make small changes which could have a big impact on the climate.
Odd Socks Day fun for Anti -bullying week Nov 2022!
Elder provided an evening of spectacular entertainment at Greenwich Theatre when they performed A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Learning in Year 4
Folk Week
During Folk Week, Elder have enjoyed experiences relating to dance. We have learnt dances such as the ‘Lancaster Bombers’, Maypole dances and even made wooden dolls dance!
We used wooden sticks and bells, Maypole ribbons and wooden paddles to create movement in different ways.
Residential Visit
In March, Elder class went on a three day residential visit to Carroty Wood in Tonbridge. Children stayed in a self-catering lodge and took on responsibilities of cooking and cleaning.
Activities included abseiling, high ropes and canoeing. We also enjoyed low ropes, evening swimming, night walks and campfires.
Take a look at our trip away below!
World War II Evacuation Day
As an introduction to our new topic of World War II, Elder went to a real-life historic evacuation site. Children were treated to an immersive role-play experience in which they learnt about the impact of war on the daily lives of civilians.
There was baking and sewing, inspired by the WI, dancing competitions and a quiz. We even got to experience what a real-life air raid would be like.
More photos below.
"No one is an artist unless he carries his picture in his head before painting it, and is sure of his method and composition."
-Claude Monet
In year 4, we looked at the movement of water and analysed how this had been captured by contemporary artists such as David Hockney and Maggi Hambling. We then studied the work of impressionist Claude Monet.
We began by creating colour palettes; mixing primary and secondary colours to accurately match the tones we could see. We then focused on textures and explored how our brushstrokes could create calming waters, rolling waves and stormy seas.
Our final pieces considered composition and tonal changes to show water.
