Light and Shadows 

For term 1, Swallows have been lighting up the classroom for our topic on Lights and Shadows!

We started by enjoying the story of ‘The Owl who was Afraid of the Dark', who taught us all about what the dark had to offer.

We then linked this to our science by learning about a range of light sources and how shadows are formed. We investigated many properties of light, including how light travels and how shadows change their shape and size.

Swallows created some fantastic homework pieces around this topic, such as designing their own sun glasses to stay protected from the sun!

Opposites Attract

Also during term 1, Swallows class have been exploring the mystery of magnets! We read the story of 'The Iron Man' by Ted Hughes and wrote a range of texts, including a diary entry from the Farmers perspective when the Iron Man first appeared. We also created our character descriptions for our own metal based characters, and had them challenge the Iron man.

We investigated how magnets work, what materials are magnetic and what a non-contact force is. We finished this topic with an in class escape room, where the Swallows had to solve puzzles and questions using all of the knowledge they learnt.

Romans Rock!

During term 2, we embarked on an exciting journey into the fascinating world of Roman Britain! We explored what life was like in Roman Times, discovering when the Romans arrived and how their empire grew to become one of the most powerful in history.

We learnt about the story of Romulus and Remus and recreated the story in a very dramatic piece!

Moreover, to deepen our understanding of our own British history, we also looked at Celtic Britain and the conflict that arose through the Boudicca uprising, leading Swallows to create their own newspaper report about the event.

One of the texts we looked at this half term was 'Escape from Pompeii', where we wrote some excellent setting descriptions that transported us back to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

During the term, Swallows even had the incredible opportunity to meet a real-life Roman Soldier! He arrived fully equipped with a sword, shield, spear and even his full suit of armour, ready to teach us the ways of the mighty Roman Army.

We learned the secrets of survival in battle, and even participated in an epic Roman army march, where we were suddenly ‘attacked’ by fierce ‘Celts!’ With their spears and shields raised, Swallows quickly formed the famous Roman tortoise formation to protect themselves from the enemy’s arrows (flying beanbags!) What a thrilling and action packed term this has been! 

Healthy Bodies

In Term 3, Swallows embarked on an amazing adventure into the world of healthy bodies! We explored everything from the importance of healthy eating to the incredible way our skeletons support us. Swallows even created their own skeletal artwork, where they had to recreate the human body, and label the different bones and their functions.

To add some extra fun, we dived into the fantastical world of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. The class had an absolute blast creating all kinds of exciting writing inspired by the story, with a highlight being their newspaper reports about the five lucky chocolate winners. They even got to ‘interview’ the winners, bringing the chocolate-filled adventure to life with their creative questions and lively reports!