In English this week we became biographers and wrote a biography about Queen Elizabeth II. We found out all the features of a biography, such as a heading, subheadings, pictures, and interesting facts. We had lots of fun being biographers and writing all about the life of the Queen!
 
In Science, we have continued with our topic, ‘Animals, Including Humans’. This week, we learnt about the five senses: hear, sight, touch, smell and taste and their corresponding body parts. We enjoyed discussing all the things that we can hear, see, touch, smell, and taste. ​

Final Week of HT3

Another week of Year Six working their socks off! Pupils have been partaking in a Mock-SATs week throughout the week. Pupils have been sitting them like they would for the real tests; they have tried really hard, and it has been impressive to see them taking on the challenge in a mature manner.

Despite having formal tests during the week, we have also been enjoying continuing to write our own version of Pie Corbett’s warning story: ‘The Caravan’. Pupils have taken an existing story and given it their own twists to produce their own version. Their tales start in an all-so-familiar way: their character is told not to go somewhere by a relative or friend but being the daring characters they are, they go anyway and something bad happens due to not following an instruction; fortunately, at the end, the characters escape unscathed – with only a few minor injuries and a telling-off from the person they defied. Here are some of our openers:

• Slamming his head down onto the table, Dad bellowed, “Don’t you dare go near that abandoned hospital!” his tone lowered, and the words slid out of his gritted teeth, “I know you're planning on going there; I have read your messages.”
• Creating an earthquake on the floor, my Uncle snatched my phone and shouted, “Don’t even think about going near that disastrous, cursed manor!” Tears began falling like a waterfall and the floor became damp, “You know what happened to your brother!”
• On a normal Friday morning, it started with the usual talk with Dad – about how dangerous it was to go near that ‘weird’ restaurant; he usually says something like: “Do not go near that restaurant, blah, blah, if you do, I will disown you!”

This was just a taster of some of the brilliant stories the children have been writing!
In art, we have been looking at creating our own printing templates; last week, pupils chose materials with different depth and texture to glue onto a cardboard cut-out. This week the pupils have painted over them, printed their texture onto paper and next week they will be drawing patterns over the printed part.
 
On Thursday, pupils – who have completed all their homework for the half-term – were rewarded for their efforts with a homework celebration afternoon. There were different activities going on in different rooms and it was a good way to celebrate their hard work, as well rewarding them for completing the tasks set at home. 

Harrison M
I most enjoyed Curriculum Day as we got the chance to make our own mythical creatures. I’m really enjoying Who Let The Gods Out by Maz Evans - the vocabulary is sometimes strange and it also has a funny side.
In science this week, I learnt that the stomach acid slowly breaks down food and that osmosis is a type of diffusion.
 
Chloe M
My favourite lesson is always maths. This week, we have been doing algebra.
On Curriculum Day, we started a new book called Who Let The Gods Out? I am enjoying it because it can get really funny with some of the things the characters say. I loved curriculum day since all of the teachers dressed up.
 
Archie K
My favourite lesson from last week was creating my own mythical creature on Curriculum Day because I got to use my imagination and my own ideas.
 
At the moment, we’re reading Who Let The Gods Out? By Maz Evans. I’m enjoying the part where they go to Stonehenge because it’s not made up and it takes place in the United Kingdom.
 
The thing I like most about this half-term was the Crater Lake book because it was amazing and brought ideas for my art work. 

​Teacher Blog 3.2.23
By Mr Rumble
I love our curriculum days! A chance to go into detail with a subject or two, get creative and access our learning in a different way. This half term’s did not disappoint; seeing year 6 dressed up as the God’s, year 3 hoarding materials to make box theatres for puppet shows and year 2 on the playground trying to make a bottle of cola explode using mints. As we reach the half-way point of the academic year, it serves as a reminder of why East Tilbury Primary School is such a rich and thriving environment that is a privilege to be part of. At times I do wonder who is having more fun between the adults and the children though! 

For superhero themed curriculum day, Reception have been completing lots of different superhero missions this week as part of their superhero training! In literacy, we have been busy turning ourselves into superheroes. We designed our costumes and labelled them using adjectives, thought of different superhero names and superpowers that we would have, and coming up with some catch phrases. Lots of us have said that it was easy using our phonics skills in our writing – we are writing CVC words without any help from a grown up!
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On curriculum day, we could teleport into the different Reception classrooms to complete the last part of our superhero training. There was maths training in one class, where we continued work on numbers 6, 7 and 8. We practised identifying pairs of the same numbers that were represented in different ways, for example the numeral 6 and 6 teddies. Later, we focussed on combining two groups together and then adding more.
In another class, there were lots of activities that worked on our explorative, investigative and reasoning skills. The third class challenged our literacy skills, focussing on reading and writing CVC words. In the final class, we had the chance to show off our creativity skills. Here, we had the opportunity to create different superhero accessories.
In the last part of our training, our physical fitness was put to the test. We were challenged to complete a superhero obstacle course set up in the outside area.
Most of us agreed that the creative class and physical training were our favourite parts of the superhero training.