Rowan - Year 5 & 6

Class Teacher: Miss Keohane

Class Teaching Assistant: Mr Barnes

Please don't hesitate to ask me any questions on the playground during pick-up or send an email to: rowan@bellefield.wilts.sch.uk

Summer Term

This term we are studying Invaders of Britain: Anglo-Saxons & Vikings. Our class text for Term 5 will be Michael Morpugo's Beowulf. Please find the links to our topic web and knowledge organiser below.

PE DAYS: Monday and Thursday

Mill-on-the-Brue 

Year 6 from Rowan and Beech journeyed to Mill-on-the-Brue in Bruton, Somerset for a 3-day residential before the Easter holidays. Check out the slideshow below to see what adventures we got up to!

Mill on the Brue 2023

Spring Term 2023

Our topic this term is Rainforests!

 Knowledge Organiser

 Our class text is 'The Explorer' by Katherine Rundell.

Greek WOW Day

To finish our topic we celebrated all things Greek!

Rowan Greek day

Library Visit

Rowan and Beech class renewed their library cards and visited Trowbridge town library for the morning. We browsed their selection, listened to poetry read aloud by Basil the librarian, and borrowed books to take home.

UKS2 library

Half term homework

Check out these amazing mythical creature masks made by Rowan and Beech class!

Mask parade

Stourhead Trip

Stourhead

Autumn Term

In Rowan class this term, we will be learning all about Ancient Greece!

Topic Web

 Knowledge Organiser

Our core text this term will be Who Let the Gods Out? by Maz Evans  - a hilarious modern comedy about the wacky Greek gods adventures coming down from Mount Olympus to earth. 

Reading

Your child will be given a book and a reading record bookmark to take home with them. If they wish to read a book from home then please do. Parents can initial the bookmark every time they read with their child and the class teacher will do so also. 

If your child is a Free Reader they will be a part of the Reading Pro scheme. This will involve them receiving a username and password which will be set up in the coming weeks. In this time the children will complete quizzes to help them choose an appropriate book that they will enjoy.

Homework

Homework will be set on a Friday and need to be returned the following Wednesday. This task should take 30 minutes of quality learning time. A list of Year 5/6 statutory spelling words has been included in the homework books. The expectation is that children should choose 5 words to learn that week, practising and applying these words to understand their meaning. There will be random tests throughout the year to assess their progress on these words.

PE

Our PE days are Monday and Friday, but these are subject to change. Please make sure their kit is in school at all times. 

Snack

Please ensure your child has a small piece of fruit or vegetable for snack time. This may be eaten outside so please keep this in mind. 

2021/22

Beach to Bellefield: Y6 Leavers' Treat

For the first time ever, the Year 6 children are celebrating their time at Bellefield with a beach party! We had a dance party, volleyball match and even fun in the sand, followed by cones of chips and ice creams. The best bit hands down was the water fight at the end - no photos as we were all too busy getting drenched!

Beach day

Pirates of the Currybean

The fiercest pirates on the Seven Seas took over Bellefield last week for our UKS2 production: Pirates of the Currybean. The cast performed an hour long production with 6 dances, 8 songs and many many mops! We are so incredibly proud of the confident and comedic performance they delivered. What a way to end the year!

Y5 Chocolate Project

While the Year 6s were at Pencelli, the Year 5's took part in a chocolate design project. We sampled the bestsellers on the market, looked at advertising and packaging, before designing our own chocolate bars in groups. At the end of the week, each group made a pitch to a panel of Miss Keohane, Mrs Sully and Mrs Shadwell - our school business manager. The winning pitch was Jessica, Michelle and Emilia's 'ChocoWorld' bar. They then got the chance to make this bar and share it with the class - it was delicious! See their advert below.

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Jubilee Visit to the Park

 Y6 visited Trowbridge town park to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. We danced with Caroline the Dance Lady, met the Mayor and enjoyed a picnic lunch. Gabi and Eden helped bury a time capsule to be opened in 50 years, including a picture of Bellefield School!

Jubilee Picnic - Trowbridge Town Park

Y6 Post-SATs Celebration!

An enormous congratulations to all of the Y6 children who performed with a positive and determined attitude throughout this week. As a celebration we *finally* had our swing dance disco, followed by a rounders match and a picnic!

Mark Robertson - How to Draw a Dragon

 We were very excited to be visited by the author and illustrator Mark Robertson. During the visit, Mark told us about his work and also shared some of his stories with us. Then, we took part in a drawing workshop where we learned step-by-step how to draw a dragon! 

Term 5

Welcome back everyone! Please see updates and reminders below:

PE

Our PE day this term is Thursday - Multi-skills with Matt & Friday - Dance/Yoga.

Please ensure you have your PE kits in school at all times for other sessions throughout the term.

Snack

Just a reminder that snack should be a piece of fruit/vegetable and drinks in bottles for classroom use should be water.

Summer Term: Mayan Civilisation

For the Summer term our Topic will be the Mayan Civilisation.

For more information you can access our Topic Web, Areas of Learning and the Mayan Knowledge Organiser below.

Our Class Text: Holes Louis Sachar.

“Stanley Yelnats’ family has a history of bad luck, so when a miscarriage of justice sends him to Camp Green Lake Juvenile Detention Centre (which isn’t green and doesn’t have a lake) he is not surprised. Every day he and the other inmates are told to dig a hole, five foot wide by five foot deep, reporting anything they find. The evil warden claims that it is character building, but this is a lie and Stanley must dig up the truth.”

Easter Fun!

Rowan - Easter

Easter Experience

We were very lucky to take part in the 'Easter Experience' at St James's Church this week. We moved around 5 stations to experience Palm Sunday and Jesus alone in the Garden of Gethsemane all the way through to the Resurrection. We finally sampled some tasty hot cross buns and spoke about their meaning. Thanks to Tom at St James's for hosting us!

Salvadoran Cooking

To round up our topic on the changing world and international trade, we focused on El Salvador for case studies and comparisons with our own country. To celebrate Salvadoran culture we followed recipes to make vegetable empanadas and the traditional beverage horchata. This was the first time we have used such sharp knives to prepare the vegetables and a hob to cook the empanada fillings. Rowan class did themselves proud and produced some delicious snacks - take a look!

Rowan Cookery - Empanadas

Fairtrade Alliance Visit

We were lucky enough to have a visit from Lyndsey - a leading member of the Trowbridge Fairtrade Alliance - to help us explore the realities and consequences of buying Fairtrade. We learned about the differences in the treatment of farmers and the importance of the 'social premium' given to Fairtrade providers to improve their quality of life. To end the session we created our own bags from 3 strips of old magazines in the style of an innovative seller in Bangladesh who built her business from the ground up. We are all committed to buying more Fairtrade!

Fairtrade visitor

Red Nose Day

 Check out our Lego habitats for our Red Noses and the Red Nose & Spoon race on this year's Comic Relief:

Red Nose Day

Wessex Water

Beech and Rowan Class were lucky enough to have a visit from Wessex Water this week. We learnt about the human impact and climate change on our water resources. We were very shocked by the amount of water used by an average person - 150 litres, daily! Our favourite part of the visit was the demonstration of how our toilets work at home and at school! We then had a go at a mini investigation ourselves: predicting, measuring, observing and making conclusions while looking at the degradability of certain papers in toilets.

Wessex Water Visit

World Book Day

Rowan class dressed to impress in this year's World Book Day celebration. We reflected on our favourite picture books from years past and used the official World Book Day song to inspire our own raps!

Rowan World Book Day

Shrove Tuesday Class Treat: Pancake Race.

February Half Term Homework:

We Wonder Project!

Throughout Term 3 Rowan class have discovered ways to protect our planet. We have...

• Carried out an 'eco-audit' of our school's carbon footprint.
• Written an eco-proposal for Mrs Withers to suggest changes to our school.
• Created climate commandments for the world to follow.
• Explored the palm oil debate.
• Held a mini-climate summit with fictional countries: signing treaties to find solutions to global problems.

• Designed and created art with an environmental theme using recyclable materials. 

   

   

   

Dance Festival 2022 - Back to the Future!

For those of you entering the Dance Festival this year - here is a sneak peek at our music for the performance. You can use this at home to practise the routine. Below are the lyrics for Bohemian Rhapsody for you to learn for the miming 70s section.

18/01/22

We entered the 'We Wonder: Protect our Planet' competition and won a collection of brand-new books linked to the environment and our topic of the Changing World. Over the next term we will be using these texts to build a campaign to spread awareness of climate change challenges and how we can do our bit to help!

Spring Term

In Rowan class this term, we will be learning all about Our Changing World, please see details of our curriculum in the following links:

Topic Web

Areas of Learning

Knowledge Organiser

Our core text this term will be Brightstorm: A Skyship Adventure by Vashti Hardy - an adventure story in a world far from our own, documenting the thrilling race to discover the unknown lands of South Polaris.

16/12/21 - Christmas in Rowan

To celebrate the festive season, Rowan class held 'The Great Bellefield Bake off!' Judges Prue and Paul (Miss K and Mr B) took a step back and spectated while the two teams raced to the finish and baked/decorate their gingerbread treats. Congratulations to all children for being Star Bakers - handshakes all round! 

In the afternoon we had our annual Christmas party with all the festive fave games. Musical statues, plate decorating and of course pass the parcel. Well done to Elena and Sophia for winning their crafty prizes.

Merry Christmas from Rowan!

Rowan - Christmas

Rowan - Christmas Party

15/11/21 - Anti-Bullying Week

For Anti-Bullying week, Rowan class thought about the wider global issues of discrimination and hatred. We listened to the lyrics from the song 'Where is the love?' by Black Eyed Peas. Then we expressed our interpretation of this song in a piece of Art. We reminded ourselves how we can encourage kindness and build a better world.

Half Term Homework

Here are some of the fantastic WWII dioramas that Rowan Class have designed and created for their half term homework projects. We are so impressed by the quality and originality of their dioramas as well as the hard work that has been put into making them look so brilliant. Prizes were awarded to the 3 judged to be best by other teachers. 

Well done to Oli, Elena and Harrison!

WWII Dioramas

02/11/21

To celebrate earning 60 marbles in our class jar we asked for a spooky class treat as Halloween was just around the corner. We learned all about the Mexican festival of 'Dia de los muertos' - Day of the Dead - and created our own masks using paper plates, coloured gems and lolly sticks to imitate the skeleton designs seen in the festival. Some of us also painted our faces with Dia de los muertos inspired-patterns. Take a look!

Rowan Class Treat - Dia de los muertos

14/10/21 - Trowbridge Museum Visit

Rowan class visited the newly refurbished Trowbridge Museum to dig deeper into our local heritage, and discover how our town was involved in the war. We discovered that factories in Trowbridge were involved first in clothes production and then later in making parts for the famous Spitfire planes. We handled artefacts including gas masks, air-raid rattles, and war medals as well as dressed up in authentic clothing, to further immerse ourselves in our WWII topic. Thank you to Mr Burke and his trusty volunteers for a great morning out!

Rowan's Visit to Trowbridge Museum

13/10/21 - Contemporary Dance Workshop

4 lucky Year 6s got the chance to take part in a contemporary dance workshop led by professional dancers from the Swindon Centre for Advanced Training. We travelled to the Trowbridge Civic Centre and spent 2 hours learning, choreographing and performing with children from 10 other schools. Check out the short clip and photos capturing our experience. 

Dance Workshop

29/09/21 - WW2 Evacuation to Devon!

Last week Rowan and Beech class evacuated from the perilous Blitz of London to Budmouth Point on the sunny Devon coast! Their teachers, Miss Smith and Mr Baxter, arrived in style to meet them from the train and each child was billeted by the officer Mrs Jones. Children wore name tags at all times in order to be identified, conducted marching practice and even experienced an air-raid! We wrote letters home to our families to tell them of our adventures, comforted each other with Vera Lynn sing-songs, and cross-stitched war slogans to pass the time. Hopes for the end of the war, but for now...Keep Calm and Carry On!

WW2 Evacuation to Budmouth Point, Devon

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Autumn Term

In Rowan class this term, we will be learning all about World War Two, please click here, here and here to review the topic plans to learn more. 

Our core text this term will be Letters from the Lighthouse by Emma Carroll - a beautiful story of two children's evacuation to Devon during the Blitz and the mysteries they solve along the way.

To learn more about the war there are some interesting videos on the BBC website.

Reading

Your child will be given a book and a reading record to take home and read every evening. They will need to ensure these are in their bags to bring to school each day.

We will award certificates for 50 and 100 reads (when the reading entry is signed by an adult). The children will also have lots of opportunities to read and enjoy books throughout the week at school.

If your child is a Free Reader they will be a part of the Reading Pro scheme. This will involve them receiving a username and password which will be set up in the coming weeks. In this time the children will complete quizzes to help them choose an appropriate book that they will enjoy from