Literacy
This term Elm read short stories: The Hitchhiker by Roald Dahl and The Pedestrian by Ray Bradbury. The class read the Hitchhiker closely, in instalments, savouring the unfolding drama and the understated humour of the encounter with a traffic policeman. They became increasingly intrigued by the mysterious passenger, so self-assured and wordly wise compared to the narrator.
Having enjoyed the story, the class thought about their response to the outcome and asked themselves whether they sided with the traffic policeman or the speeding driver and his tricky passenger. Most of us admitted we were happy with the story’s ending but one person stood up for law and order and sided with the policeman!
The Pedestrian by Ray Bradbury, written in 1951, is a very different story but the class found plenty to talk about in this bleak, futuristic tale of a dystopian city, where crime has been stamped out and a population of three million is policed by one car. We only meet one resident because the rest are at home watching their sinister-sounding ‘viewing screens’.
Elm also studied poetry this term, focusing on imagery and the different techniques used by writers to ‘paint a picture with words’. We read the beautiful ‘In Memory of My Grandfather’ by Edward Storey and studied his use of imagery, as he compared his beloved grandfather, a rural farming man, to a tree. The class drew pictures of the grandfather as he is depicted in the poem. They then wrote their own poetry, choosing to write about places that had an impact on them rather than people.
History
This term Elm began to look at the Renaissance and the changes in thinking that led away from the Age of Faith to a renewed interest in the ancient civilisations of Greece and Rome. They learnt about the intellectual movement of Humanism and how the new ideas were spread thanks to the printing press.
They learnt how the wealthy city states now known as Italy were at the heart of the new quest for knowledge that characterised the period and why the region was so economically and culturally important at this time.
Geography
This term Elm class followed the COP26 meeting, held this year in Glasgow, and learnt about the global climate summits, known as COP or ”Conference of the Parties” that the UN has been hosting for almost thirty years. Afterwards, the class researched renewable energy sources, their pros and cons and uptake around the world and then presented their findings to each other.
Science
This term Elm Class have been learning about the different forces that are found all around us. They were set the task of developing their scientific understanding of the range of forces that act upon an object at one time.
The children formed hypotheses as well as conducting investigations into a chosen force. First, they investigated as a group, then they applied the same template to individual investigations. This enabled the children to take their learning outside of the classroom as well as to apply their literacy skills in a different subject.
Finally, Elm class were set the challenge of presenting all they had learnt over the term in an educational poster that would be used to support further understanding of the different forces that are found around us.
Mathematics
In Statistics:
Elms constructed and interpreted various data tables, charts, and diagrams, including frequency tables, bar charts, pie charts, pictograms, line graphs, stem and leaf charts and scatter graphs (correlation). Elms can clearly distinguish between positive and negative correlation, identify if it is strong, moderate or weak and understand that all outliers are not taken into consideration while drawing the line of the best fit. We then dived deeper into the construction of pie charts and calculated desirable percentage and number of degrees for the specific group of data.
In Algebra: Expressions /Formulae/ System of equations
We worked on simplifying algebraic expressions, used simple formulae and wrote formulae from the problem to identify how they could be applied in real life. We worked on solving problems while substituting specific values into expressions and formulae and then probed further into algebra while finding solutions for the systems of equations.
Spanish
Students learned the Spanish version of the song “A King is Born” for the Christmas show. They played “Loteria” (similar to Bingo) to learn and practise the numbers from 1 to 30. Descriptions of school life and corresponding vocabulary was one of our focuses this term. During the last class of the term, students were able to practise the Christmas vocabulary on Seesaw (classroom app); some of them recorded their voices saying the words.
ICT
Students learned and practised how to make a poster on Google Drawings by drawing, modifying and combining objects and inserting images, text and other useful tools.
Every student designed a poster for the Christmas show. Cecilia’s poster (Oak Class) was chosen to be displayed around the school and later was used on the invitation sent to parents.
Students discovered what HTML is, used HTML to structure static web pages and learned how to modify tags to improve the appearance of web pages.
French
Christmas Performance ”Hey Ewe!”
Bravo, Maestro!!! 
Our teachers wanted to dance as well. 
Collaborative Background posters
Designing and making our Christmas costumes...
The mighty Oaks and Ecstatic Elms had a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate their creative side while making costumes, dancing, singing, creating props and performing on the stage during our Christmas Show.
Thank you and well done to all the Oak and Elm students for their outstanding dedication and hard work during our «Hey Ewe!» performance!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Enjoy your holiday!
Best wishes,
Mrs. Harrington, Christine, Joanna, Cecilia, Mr. H and Mr. Kralka