Constantine’s Creative Curriculum

Year 6 – Spring Term
European Discovery
Special event:

Countries, capital cities, mountains, rivers, flags, culture, landmarks, languages and transport – all of these and many more will be covered in this whistle stop tour – aimed to give the children an broad and substantial knowledge of their continent. They will use their facts to create a useful database of key information. They will also use spreadsheets to plan journeys and calculate travel costs from one country to another. In addition the children will discover the key countries and their actions during World War II and this will lead them to consider the impact of World War II on the daily lives of the people at the time and on their lives today.

Make a Positive Contribution: By discussing the War and the motives of people involved in the War the children will explore ways of resolving conflict and dealing with difficult situations in a non-violent way. They will learn debating and negotiating skills to help them deal with issues that arise during their lives at school.

Economic Well-Being:Through studies of rationing during World War II the children will gain an appreciation of what money can buy and the importance of the ‘make do and mend philosophy’ which has much relevance in our current climate. Through making spreadsheets to cost tours and trips across Europe the children will again get a broad understanding of all the considerations needed, both financial and practical, when planning a trip or a holiday. They will also do a data collection and handling exercise based on market research of supermarket products.

Enjoy and Achieve: The children absolutely love showing their learning and understanding in big, bold and bright ways. The DT hat or flag designs do exactly this.

  • Mini i-pads
  • Pupil progress groups


Promotional leaflets and travel guides to famous European destinations

Science
In addition the children will look at the wartime diet and look at how food was rationed. They will explore whether a healthy diet for teeth and bodies was obtained. This will be linked to science of the circulatory systems. They will research blackout conditions during wartime and rig up electrical circuits to sound buzzers (air-raid sirens) and dim lights.
Transport is the key to the science of this topic. The children will look at all the modes of transport for crossing the continent; air, boat, train, car, bicycle and discuss all of these in relation to forces and friction. In this way the children should cover all types of forces, friction, and air and water resistance. They will also explore balanced and unbalanced forces and how these are apparent in modes of transport.
Programme of Study
Working scientifically
During years 5 and 6, pupils should be taught to use the following practical scientific methods, processes and skills through the teaching of the programme of study content:
  • planning different types of scientific enquiries to answer questions, including recognising and controlling variables where necessary
  • taking measurements, using a range of scientific equipment, with increasing accuracy and precision, taking repeat readings when appropriate
  • recording data and results of increasing complexity using scientific diagrams and labels, classification keys, tables, scatter graphs, bar and line graphs
  • using test results to make predictions to set up further comparative and fair tests
  • reporting and presenting findings from enquiries, including conclusions, causal relationships and explanations of and degree of trust in results, in oral and written forms such as displays and other presentations
  • identifying scientific evidence that has been used to support or refute ideas or arguments.
(Pupils in years 5 and 6 should use their science experiences to: explore ideas and raise different kinds of questions; select and plan the most appropriate type of scientific enquiry to use to answer scientific questions; recognise when and how to set up comparative and fair tests and explain which variables need to be controlled and why. They should use and develop keys and other information records to identify, classify and describe living things and materials, and identify patterns that might be found in the natural environment. They should make their own decisions about what observations to make, what measurements to use and how long to make them for, and whether to repeat them; choose the most appropriate equipment to make measurements and explain how to use it accurately. They should decide how to record data from a choice of familiar approaches; look for different causal relationships in their data and identify evidence that refutes or supports their ideas. They should use their results to identify when further tests and observations might be needed; recognise which secondary sources will be most useful to research their ideas and begin to separate opinion from fact. They should use relevant scientific language and illustrations to discuss, communicate and justify their scientific ideas and should talk about how scientific ideas have developed over time.)
Pupils should be taught to:
Animals including humans
  • identify and name the main parts of the human circulatory system, and describe the functions of the heart, blood vessels and blood
  • recognise the impact of diet, exercise, drugs and lifestyle on the way their bodies function
  • describe the ways in which nutrients and water are transported within animals, including humans.
Electricity
  • associate the brightness of a lamp or the volume of a buzzer with the number and voltage of cells used in the circuit
  • compare and give reasons for variations in how components function, including the brightness of bulbs, the loudness of buzzers and the on/off position of switches
  • use recognised symbols when representing a simple circuit in a diagram.
Forces
  • explain that unsupported objects fall towards the Earth because of the force of gravity acting between the Earth and the falling object (Y5)
  • identify the effects of air resistance, water resistance and friction, that act between moving surfaces (Y5)
  • recognise that some mechanisms, including levers, pulleys and gears, allow a smaller force to have a greater effect. (Y5)
What could this look like?
  • Research into the effects of malnutrition and the need for balanced diets
  • Compare and contrast modern day diets and health with wartime
  • Studies of diagrams of various circulatory systems and organs.
  • Circuits with lights, buzzers and switches.
  • Experiments with altering number of cells, bulbs etc
  • Experiments with bikes, scoters, skateboards etc to look at forces and friction
  • Experiments with paper planes and parachutes to look at air resistance
(-Pupils should build on their learning from years 3 and 4 about the main body parts and internal organs (skeletal, muscular and digestive system) to explore and answer questions that help them to understand how the circulatory system enables the body to function.
Pupils should learn how to keep their bodies healthy and how their bodies might be damaged – including how some drugs and other substances can be harmful to the human body.
Pupils might work scientifically by: exploring the work of scientists and scientific research about the relationship between diet, exercise, drugs, lifestyle and health.
-Building on their work in year 4, pupils should construct simple series circuits, to help them to answer questions about what happens when they try different components, for example, switches, bulbs, buzzers and motors. They should learn how to represent a simple circuit in a diagram using recognised symbols.
Note: Pupils are expected to learn only about series circuits, not parallel circuits. Pupils should be taught to take the necessary precautions for working safely with electricity.
Pupils might work scientifically by: systematically identifying the effect of changing one component at a time in a circuit; designing and making a set of traffic lights, a burglar alarm or some other useful circuit.
- Pupils should explore falling objects and raise questions about the effects of air resistance. They should explore the effects of air resistance by observing how different objects such as parachutes and sycamore seeds fall. They should experience forces that make things begin to move, get faster or slow down. Pupils should explore the effects of friction on movement and find out how it slows or stops moving objects, for example, by observing the effects of a brake on a bicycle wheel. Pupils should explore the effects of levers, pulleys and simple machines on movement. Pupils might find out how scientists, for example, Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton helped to develop the theory of gravitation.
Pupils might work scientifically by: exploring falling paper cones or cup-cake cases, and designing and making a variety of parachutes and carrying out fair tests to determine which designs are the most effective. They might explore resistance in water by making and testing boats of different shapes. They might design and make products that use levers, pulleys, gears and/or springs and explore their effects.)
Progression in skills:
  • Scaffold withdrawn from group work.
  • Opportunities given for own questions to be followed as a result of initial investigation.
  • Predictions drawn from past experience.
  • Many variables discussed.
  • Range is sophisticated. Intervals are uniform.
  • Children select own equipment and measure as accurately as 1N, 1g, 1mm
  • Three measurements routinely taken.
  • Concise written communication. Generalisation is encouraged.
  • Extensive scientific vocabulary with definitions of words used given by children.
Key vocabulary:balanced, unbalanced forces, friction, gravity, air resistance, carbohydrates, proteins, fats, sugars, vitamins, minerals, heart, circulation, blood vessels, arteries, veins, capillaries, exercise, drugs, electricity, series circuit, components, buzzers, cells, bulbs, switches
Attainment targets: By the end of each key stage, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes specified in the relevant programme of study.
  • I know key vocabulary related to the heart and the circulatory system
  • I know key vocabulary related to electricity
  • I know key vocabulary related to forces and friction
  • I can record my observations, comparisons and measurements using tables and bar charts.
  • I can plot points to form simple graphs and use these graphs to point out and interpret patterns in my data.
  • I can make generalizations about physical phenomena e.g. motion is affected by forces, how bulb brightness is altered
  • I can link my science to things I see in real life

History
This topic covers a brief history of World War II in Europe and in particular looks at its effect on the everyday lives of the people, especially in relation to rationing, wartime evacuees and host families. Much of the history is researched through the impetus of Carrie’s War.
Programme of Study
During their historical studies children need:
During their historical studies:
  • Pupils should continue to develop a chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of British, local and world history, establishing clear narratives within and across the periods they study.
  • They should note connections, contrasts and trends over time and develop the appropriate use of historical terms.
  • They should regularly address and sometimes devise historically valid questions about change, cause, similarity and difference, and significance.
  • They should construct informed responses that involve thoughtful selection and organisation of relevant historical information.
  • They should understand how our knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of sources.
  • a study of an aspect or theme in British history that extends pupils’ chronological knowledge beyond 1066
  • a significant turning point in British history, for example, the war
What could this look like?
  • Diaries / letters home from evacuees
  • Study Carrie’s War
  • Host families/ evacuees drama
Progression in skills:
  • They compare accounts of events from different sources.
  • The examine causes and results of events and the impact on people.
  • They select evidence from different sources of information, first hand and secondary.
Key vocabulary:evacuee, host, rationing, prisoner of war, concentration camp
Attainment targets: By the end of each key stage, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes specified in the relevant programme of study.
  • I can give reasons for and results of the main events and changes studied
  • I can feel empathy with different parties associated with the war,: evacuees, split families, host families, children of host families, soldiers leaving, prisoners, victims, survivors…

Geography
Location, location, location! The children will discover facts and figures on all key geographical aspects for all of the main European countries. This is purely based on independent research done in the classroom and at home. The children each choose a European country with a remit to produce a detailed presentation on that country.
Programme of Study
Locational knowledge
  • locate the world’s countries, using maps to focus on Europe (including the location of Russia) and North and South America, concentrating on their environmental regions, key physical and human characteristics, countries, and major cities
  • name and locate counties and cities of the United Kingdom, geographical regions and their identifying human and physical characteristics, key topographical features (including hills, mountains, coasts and rivers), and land-use patterns; and understand how some of these aspects have changed over time
  • identify the position and significance of latitude, longitude, Equator, Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, Arctic and Antarctic Circle, the Prime/Greenwich Meridian and time zones (including day and night)
Place knowledge
  • understand geographical similarities and differences through the study of human and physical geography of a region of the United Kingdom, a region in a European country, and a region within North or South America
Human and physical geography
describe and understand key aspects of:
  • physical geography, including: climate zones, biomes and vegetation belts, rivers, mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes, and the water cycle
  • human geography, including: types of settlement and land use, economic activity including trade links, and the distribution of natural resources including energy, food, minerals and water
Geographical skills and fieldwork
  • use maps, atlases, globes and digital/computer mapping to locate countries and describe features studied
What could this look like?
  • Children producing projects / presentations detailing physical, human, demographic and political geographical facts and figures
Progression in skills:
  • They know location and context of a range of places and can use four figure grid references.
  • They can describe physical and human features of a wider range of places.
  • They recognise ways in which places can be interdependent.
  • They make comparisons between individual features of different places.
Key Vocabulary: country, region, state, border, capital, physical, human, political, demographic
Attainment Targets:
By the end of each key stage, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes specified in the relevant programme of study.
  • I can ask a wide range of geographical questions to discover facts about a country
  • I can use primary and secondary sources to discover facts about a country
  • I can present my findings in varied and interesting ways

Computing
The children will be compiling databases of key facts of all of the European countries studies. They will also be constructing costing spreadsheets to plan journeys, trips and accommodation from country to country across Europe.
Throughout the topic digital literacy (e-safety) skills will be developed.
Programme of Study
During their computing studies pupils:
  • understand computer networks including the internet; how they can provide multiple services, such as the world wide web; and the opportunities they offer for communication and collaboration
  • use search technologies effectively, appreciate how results are selected and ranked, and be discerning in evaluating digital content
  • select, use and combine a variety of software (including internet services) on a range of digital devices to design and create a range of programs, systems and content that accomplish given goals, including collecting, analysing, evaluating and presenting data and information.
  • Use technology safely, respectfully and responsibly; recognise acceptable/unacceptable behaviour; identify a range of ways to report concerns about content and contact.
What could this look like?
  • Children research and create databases about European Countries
  • Children search the databases to find answers to questions, using and/or search terms
  • Children use the database to create questions for others to answer using the database
  • Children set up a simple spreadsheet to cost the trip to Europe
  • Children work within a budget to plan their journey, showing records of the spending using the database
Progression in skills: