Rowan 2024-2025 -Autumn 1

Hackney School of Food

Rowan Class were given an amazing opportunity to attend a free two hour cooking lesson at the Hackney School of Food. The reason for this are as follows:

- The cooking lessons are planned to directly support the progression of the children's DT knowledge and meet Berger’s DT curriculum. Lessons are linked with other areas of the curriculum and cultural events, such as History, Diwali or Spanish, providing a cross-curricular approach to cooking and nutrition.

- As part of Hackney Council's effort to eradicate food poverty in the borough, the Mayor is supporting these free lessons. Children will learn where food is grown and how to cook seasonal dishes from highly skilled food educators, in our purpose-built teaching kitchen and garden.

Wow Day- Tectonic Plates

For our Geography topic this term we were learning about Tectonic Plates.

We explored the different tectonic plates, around the world, and discussed the impact they have on countries- in particular how tectonic plates create volcanoes, earthquakes and mountains. For our WOW Day, we used gym mats to crash them together to make mountains, and we used the parachute and volleyballs to replicate the movement of magma in a volcano.

HMDT- Exploring the Amazon Rainforest through Stories

With support from HMDT, we explored the Amazon Rainforest through story telling. We learnt that historically, Brazilians did not always read stories from books but shared them orally, this is called a folktale.

We listened to some of these stories and then created freeze frames to match them. We even discussed how the humans, plants and animals in the folktales, may be feeling.

WOW Day- Brazil

For our WOW Day, we went on a journey through Brazil to explore different parts of the country.

We crept through the depths of the Amazon Rainforest and discussed what animals we may see or hear. We then sailed through the River Nile and thought about what type of plants grow around the river. We then enjoyed our way through the beach and practiced playing games, sun bathing and swimming. Lastly, we imagined we were in the carnival and danced around the streets of Rio de Janeiro.

WOW Day- The Journeys of Magnet Man and Woman

For WOW day the children designed and created their own Magnet man or Magnet Woman.

We went out to the playground and explore with materials the magnets attracts and repels.

🧲🧭🛝🪵

British Museum- Time Odyssey

Rowan Class went to the British Museum on the 20th of December by coach. The class took part in a virtual reality experience called Time Odyssey; they met with characters from throughout history and attempted to successfully tackle challenges to save their character.

Making trinkets in Forest School

For Forest School we created many different trinkets using wool, sticks and wooden disks. We managed to make very exciting bracelets, necklaces, and wind chimes. We then enjoyed some hot chocolate and biscuits in the garden.

Making ourselves look like Ancient Egyptian Pharoahs

Rowan class learnt about the history behind Ancient Egyptian art. Pharaohs were painted from a side profile, and were decorated with beautiful crowns, garments and bold makeup.

WOW Day- Ancient Egypt

We had our WOW day today!

We explored some of the activities that the Ancient Egyptians did in the past.

We dug up sand to find secret treasures 👑, we decoded hieroglyphic messages 📜 and mummified tomatoes 🍅 .

WOW Day- From Stone Age to Bronze Age

Volcanoes!

This half term the children in Rowan class have been learning about volcanos! The children designed, built and decorated volcanos using cardboard, recycled bottles and papier-mâché. Once we had created our volcanoes, we used different ingredients to cause an explosion!

Portuguese Pavements in Brazil

As part of our topic of Brazil, the children in Rowan class designed mosaics based on the Portuguese Pavements found in the streets of Brazil. The children created their own mosaic designs using contrast, colour, drawings and pattern. We voted for our favourite design and created it as a class.

Brazilian Carnival!

This half term, the children in Rowan class have been learning about Brazil! As part of our Wow day, the children designed their own masks to wear on our carnival parade through the school. The children danced along to some Brazilian music, played percussion instruments and even performed some samba moves!

Iron Man Board Games!

This half term, the children in Rowan class have been learning about the book ‘Iron Man’ by Ted Hughes. We undertook a D&T project, where the children evaluated different board games, created a design brief for a board game, and designed their own game, before eventually making, playing and evaluating their own game. In science we have been learning about forces and magnets, and after investigating which types of materials are magnetic, all the children incorporated magnets into their own board games.

Mummifying tomatoes!

The children have been learning about the Ancient Egyptian mummification process in topic this term. We followed the same steps with tomatoes to see what changes we could see over time. We discovered that the mummification process was rather disgusting!

Ancient Egypt

Rowan class had fun on our Ancient Egypt wow day! We made Ancient Egypt style headdresses and necklaces, we also learned to write our names in hieroglyphics! Rowan Class had a very special visitor from Ancient Egypt… Cleopatra! The children asked her questions about her life as a pharaoh and learnt some very interesting facts!