Hungerford Primary School

“Under the Canopy” is a thematic unit, based on the rainforest with a key focus on Geography and History. We have been commissioned to work for a fictitious organisation called ‘Roots’ in helping two adopted children find out about their Mexican / Mayan heritage. Through this project, we will also learn about the importance of the rainforest.

“Rocky the Findosaur” is a thematic unit based around rocks and fossils, with a key focus on science. We will learn about different types of rocks, with the help of original animated dinosaur character, Rocky. This theme also takes in solids, liquids and gases through focusing on Mount Vesuvius, which is where Rocky spends his time exploring.
 

We launched our Rocky the Findosaur topic with a WOW day in which children dressed up as paleontologists, searched for fossils in Forest School and even made their own fossil! Children have enjoyed being hands on with our practical science lessons and learning all about rocks and soils. 

“Athens v Sparta” is a thematic unit based on Ancient Greece, with a key focus on history. Learning is centred on how the Greeks used to live, including the key aspect of mythology, especially highlighting the conflicts that characterised Ancient Greece, including the Persian Wars.

We launched our Athens V Sparta topic with a WOW Day in which children dressed up as Greek gods, reenacted Greek myths and tasted Greek food. We are looking forward to concluding this topic with a visit from Portals to the Past where children will get to experience what life was like in Ancient Greece. 

During this topic, we have also enjoyed using our science skills out in the community. The 'Pollution Problem' investigation enabled us to determine what litter was most common in Hungerford and what problems this could pose. 

“Come Fly With Me! Africa” is a thematic unit based around the continent of Africa, with a key focus on geography and history. We will be learning about the location of Africa and identifying its largest countries. Alongside this geography element, we will study the Early Benin era. We will also learn about African culture, in particular typical African food and folk tales.
 

To bring this topic to life, the children took part in an African drumming workshop. They loved this experience and some of them even made it on to the news! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/cd757lx330po 

The children are also enjoying the science we are covering within this topic. The highlight of their week was getting messy when replicating the digestive system. Looking at teeth was something that they were also fascinated by. 

“Out and About” is a thematic unit with a key focus on geography. We will be naming and locating counties and cities of the United Kingdom, geographical regions and their identifying human and physical characteristics, using the eight points of a compass, four-figure grid references, symbols and keys; using fieldwork to observe, measure and record the human and physical features in the local area and developing an understanding of why the place our school is located is like it is. 

‘Lindow Man’ is a competency-based thematic unit with a history focus, telling the story of prehistoric Britain, from the Stone Age to the Celts.
 

This topic gave us a great excuse to use our local environment. On the Common, the children loved becoming stone age people and building stone age homes using natural resources.

“That’s All Folks!” is a thematic unit based around the history and development of animation and cartoons. It teaches the beginnings of animation, looking at zoetropes and flip books, before moving on to the dawn of the Disney age. Then, the process of animation is explored further, with an opportunity for pupils to exchange their own design ideas and create their own animated films.

We have been busy making thaumatropes, zoetropes and our own animations on the computer using ZU3D. The children in Year 3 have loved using plasticine to create their own characters 🙂