In order to spark the children’s interest in their new topic, each unit starts with what is known as an ‘Entry Point’. These are exciting and engaging activities, experiences or events that are happening in each year group this week or next.
So far we have already had a wonderful carousel of Archaeological and Egyptology based activities in Year 4 as children excavate lost artefacts from sand, enter mysterious tombs, piece together art and identify objects using only a spotlight. Thursday saw Year 5 children come in dressed as what they think humans will be like in the future as part of their study of how people have evolved and changed in their new topic ‘Out of Africa’.
Shocking news and emotions ran high in Year 6 as the children were told that they had to face extra classes and Saturday School. Of course, this was to highlight the danger and potential impact of ‘fake news’ as part of their new unit, ‘Making the News’.
Next week sees Year 2 hit the catwalk for their unit ‘Say Cheese’, where children will learn how images and photography shape the world around us and how a picture can paint a thousand words. Year 3 will also we kicking off their new unit ‘Chocolate’ with some blind tasting and data collection in what will no doubt prove to be a very popular entry point!
All of these events really help mark the start of the new units and make sure that we capture the children’s imagination so that they are fully engaged and want to learn more in the coming weeks.
To keep everyone up to date and informed, our IPC board, at the end of the music corridor, has a list of all our new topics and a helpful unit summary. It also lets children and parents know what our Personal Learning Goal of the month is. For January our focus is cooperation. December’s thoughtfulness medal winners will be up on the adjacent TV from the start of next week, highlighting the lucky pupils in each year who have shown that they are thinking carefully about their Personal learning goals.
I am sure this term will be filled with wonderful tasks and challenges that encourage our children to push themselves to be independent learners as they develop new knowledge, skills and understanding of their new topics!
Thomas Holmes
Year 3 Teacher, Assistant Head & IPC Co-ordinator