Geography 2023 

Years Three and Four have been exploring rainforests and finding out all about the amazing animals and plants found in these unique habitats. Did you know that trees in the rainforest grow very tall because they have to compete with other plants for sunlight? Or that rainforests have four layers? Y2 have loved learning about the wonderful world, including learning the names of the different oceans and continents. 

History 2023

Pupils at Thornton have been travelling through time this term collecting amazing facts. Year One have been learning about different British kings and queens, whilst Year Two travelled back to London to 1605 to find out all about the Gunpowder Plot.

Meanwhile, Year 5 went even further back in time – to Stone Age Britain. Can you order these periods into chronological order: Iron Age, Stone Age and Bronze Age?

What do you know about the Mighty Mayans? Year Six are now experts on this amazing South American civilisation. Mayan hot chocolate was a well-deserved treat for our intrepid explorers!

Geography 

We have so many budding geographers at Thornton! 

Year One have enjoyed exploring our school and learning essential map skills.

Year 5 have been learning all about Marvellous Maps. They have explored a range of maps and developed their understanding of the key features of maps and atlases, using the eight compass points to give directions and using grid references to locate places. They should never get lost again!

Autumn 2022

We love History at Thornton!

This half-term Year Two have been learning all about Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot through fun activities such as: hot seating, role play, sequencing events and designing posters.

Year 3 have had a riot studying our Riotous Royalty. The children have travelled back in time to find out about William the Conqueror’s reign, how King John made himself very unpopular and why King Henry VIII married so many times!

Year 6 have gone on a journey to deepest central America to find out all about the Mighty Mayans. With stories of human sacrifices – this is one topic not for the faint-hearted!

Our Recent History Learning 

We have all enjoyed our History learning this term! Year 1 enjoyed a Medieval banquet to celebrate the end of learning about Kings, Queens and Castles. They had a five course tasting menu of ‘medieval themed food’ and some of the class provided some entertainment in between. The children even had a surprise visit from a court jester who entertained us all and took the children outside for a game of skittles. Year 2 enjoyed learning about the games children used to play in the Victorian period. Year 5 enjoyed making Stone Age beads and baby bottles as part of their topic on the Stone Age.

History and Geography 

We've all taken part in some amazing Geography and History topics this year. We've spent time immersing ourselves in the world of the Romans, as well the Anglo-Saxons. We've loved learning about the Mighty Mayans and and the Gunpowder Plot. We've loved becoming incredible historians this year!

Our Geography topics have given us all opportunities to learn about our local area. We've also been transported to the rainforest and learnt about deforestation. Children in some year groups have also spent time learning about the different countries which make up the UK. We've also enjoyed learning about the different types of land use and the differences between rural and urban areas. Some of us have also explored the Himalayas and learnt all about life in the mountains!

History

This term Year 3 visited New Walk Museum in Leicester as part of their Egyptian topic, Footprints in the Sand. They had a fantastic day exploring all of the artefacts including seeing and learning all about two real mummies! Seeing real, historical artefacts first hand is such an important part of our history learning at Thornton, it brings even ancient events to life for the children! If you haven’t visited New Walk Museum, then we highly recommend it. Where visits are not possible we source replica artefacts so that children can get a deeper understanding of history in all of our topics.

Geography

This term Year 3 have been building up their questioning skills. For example, as part of their topic, It’s Freezing, they have looked at photos without being told anything about them. The children made observations and links in their knowledge and generated lots of ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions.  

During the Autumn term, Y4/5 and Y6 fully immersed themselves in their rainforest topic. They had the chance to learn about the different animals and how different the climate is to our own. They also learnt where the different rainforests are in the world and how deforestation is changing the world.