This month we have continued with our theme work on Me, Myself and I.

‘Aneurin Bevan & the NHS’

We have focussed our learning on finding out about an important person in Welsh history, Aneurin Bevan.  We were given a range of word clues which we used to find out who our mystery person was.  From our research we were asked to answer a range of questions such as ‘Why is this person important to Welsh & British history?’ ‘Why is the work of this person important today?’

We worked in groups to conduct our research and from this we were asked to plan and film a news report on Aneurin Bevan.  We watched a range of news reports on Newsround to see how they were created.  We wrote our scripts, learnt them, filmed using greenscreen, edited our films to create a final version and then we watched each-others films, suggesting improvements and identifying good features.

 

Growing up – Puberty

In addition to our work on Aneurin Bevan and the NHS, we have also been learning about the changes that we will be going through during puberty.  We worked in groups to discuss changes that will happen to our bodies and emotions.  We demonstrated a mature attitude to our discussions.

Body Image

We have conducted a survey to determine our thoughts on posting photos online.  In the survey we looked at pressure to edit or take the ‘perfect photo’ before posting; permissions to post photos and how these photos could be used in the wrong way by other people.  We worked in groups to analyse the findings of our survey and discussed ways that we could ensure we are safer and happier on line in the future.

P4C – Love

We have been focusing on the concept of Love – which is one of our values for the month of January.  We have looked at what love means, love and hate and how these make us feel.  We have carried out a range of philosophy-based activities to explore the concept fully.

 

Welsh

We have been working hard to change our written 1^st person descriptions about ourselves into oracy conversations.  We have worked in pairs to write a conversation, using our descriptions to answer questions. We found this extremely difficult and needed lots of time and perseverance in order to learn these.

Literacy

Our focus this month has been on developing our understanding of apostrophes and when to use ‘a’ and ‘an.’  We have played a range of games to develop our understanding of the rules when to use apostrophes for omission and possession, and when you should use a and an.

These were both areas that we were making mistakes on in our own writing.

 

Numeracy

During our math’s lessons we have been developing our understanding of number and data handling:

• Calculating probabilities
• Practising the long multiplication formal method
• Practising the long division formal method
• Exploring coordinates in the first and fourth quadrants

 

We have used our learning in maths, and applied this to numeracy activities within our theme work, to explore the probabilities of heart disease and the risk factors.

 

Music – performing using tuned instruments

We have continued to practise playing the recorder.  We have built on previous knowledge of the notes and used this to practise and perform the song ‘Three blind mice.’ We are planning to use our understanding of tuned instruments to next practise playing the glockenspiel.

 

Visitors

We have had a number of visitors to our class this month.  To begin, Mrs John from Morriston Comprehensive came to deliver a transition lesson on Religious Education.  We played a memory game to help us learn about the Hindu Gods and we discussed what we know about different religions.

 

Next, we had a visit from PC Underhill who talked to us about drugs. We discussed what a drug is and the difference between legal and illegal drugs.  We talked about the reasons why people take drugs and ways to avoid peer pressure.

Finally, we had a visit from Mr Jenkins from Morriston Comprehensive who carried out a fun pe session. As transition manager, he wanted to come and get to know us. He is hoping to carry out more visits to help us with our transition to year 7 in the near future.

 

Financial Education – bank accounts and jobs

Continuing with our work on learning about money and how to manage it, we have been learning about the advantages and disadvantages of bank accounts and bank cards.  We read the story ‘On the money,’ and used this to help us determine positive and negative reasons for using bank accounts.

 

In addition, we have been learning about jobs that people do in our community.  For homework we conducted interviews with friends and family members to find out about the jobs they do, the positive and negatives and skills they need.  We then presented our findings back to the rest of the class who found it very interesting.

 

 

Dates for the diary

Last day of this half term – Friday 14^th February

Return to school on Monday 24^th February