History

Baghdad c.900 CE

Children look at the location of Baghdad as a crossing point for traders due to its proximity to the River Tigris. Children will understand why Caliph Al-Mansur built Baghdad.  Children finish the unit with a powerful mental image of the waters of the River Tigris running black from the ink washed from books seized by the Mongols from the House of Wisdom.

Art and Design

Art in the Italian Renaissance

Children are introduced to the art of the Italian renaissance by looking at The School of Athens by Raphael and Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci. Through these works they learn that Renaissance is a French word meaning rebirth, which is used to describe the revival of art that took place in Italy from about 1400 influenced by the rediscovery of classical art and culture.

They then investigate some of the work of Leonardo, looking in particular at his anatomical drawings and his painting technique used in the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. They contrast the work of Leonardo with the paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo. 

Children explore the concept of realism in the renaissance, looking again at the Mona Lisa and at the Arnolfini Portrait by one of the masters of the northern renaissance Jan Van Eyck.

They finish the unit by linking realism to the discovery of linear perspective. Children practise their drawing skills producing detailed observational drawings of their own hands and landscapes using linear perspective. They use the opportunity of studying the frescos of Leonardo and Michelangelo to explore painting on plaster, making their own plaster discs and creating their own painted designs.

Design & Technology

Water Walls

Children will make a water wall for a pre-school child which moves water.

Geography

Spatial Sense

Each year our geography curriculum begins with a ‘Spatial Sense’ unit that explicitly teaches geographical skills such as locating places on a map, positioning items on a map, using symbols in a key, interpreting scale, reading climate graphs, identifying locations using co-ordinates, interpreting population data, identifying elevation on relief maps and more.

The spatial sense units for each year group are positioned at the beginning of the year to explicitly teach skills which will then be used in context throughout the rest of the year as children apply those skills to learn more about people, places and the environment.

Science

Electricity

In this unit, children will use symbols to represent components of a circuit including batteries, wires, bulbs and switches. Children will learn about the importance of switches for conserving energy and for safety reasons. Children will build their understanding of batteries and their voltage.  They will make the link between Alessandro Volta and his interactions with Napoleon Bonaparte.  They will learn that adding more batteries to a circuit can increase the brightness of a bulb.

In this unit children will design, make and evaluate an electrical device.