PSHE Window Display - Relationships

As part of our curriculum, the Year 5 children participate in the GREAT Project which is a project in primary schools aimed at tackling the issue of domestic violence in a sensitive but informative way. It stands for Good Relationships are Equal And Trusting. The children learn all about healthy relationships and where to go for help or advice if they find themselves or a loved one in an unhealthy relationship. This project has been hugely successful in schools and to showcase the children's learning and discussions during the project I created this window display.

On the hanging suns the children wrote words or examples of what a healthy relationship would be like. On the rain drops the children wrote words or examples of what unhealthy relationships could be like. This was powerful imagery for the children.

The hanging suns and rain drops were simply made out of card hung from fishing wire (as it is see through) and attached to the ceiling with paper clips! Simple but effective!
The sun and cloud was painted straight onto the window using ready mixed paint which was slightly watered down. Don't panic it was easy to wash off with a little water!

If you would like to find out more about the GREAT Project and how you could get involved visit http://www.thegreatproject.org.uk/. If you follow the links to the adult section you can see a video which gives information from many perspectives about the impact of the project.

Our GREAT Promises...

Our Solar System - Earth Sun and Moon

Another popular Year 5 science topic - Our solar system - Earth Sun and Moon. Here are some images of a planets display I created by backing an internal window with black sugar paper and the children's oil pastel drawings of the different planets. I finished off the display with books about the topic which the children could read in their spare time / enquiry lessons.

The window facing into the corridor...

Who Am I Enquiry Display

Another whole school curriculum theme adopted this year was Who Am I? The children worked across the curriculum to find out who they were spiritually, morally, culturally and socially. They compared themselves to others in similar and different places in the world. They analysed data of our school to see if there were any trends or similarities to the nature of the students in our school. They looked closely in art at what they looked like and produced self portraits. The children thoroughly enjoyed being the centre of attention in this whole school topic!

As the topic progressed I added children's work to 'Our Learning Journey' above our enquiry display. This helped the children see over the course of the topic what they had learnt and achieved. Quite a powerful tool in revisiting / evaluating learning at the end of a topic.

Self portraits display

 

Out of This World Enquiry Display

Out of This World was a whole school theme adopted by all classes. It encompassed themes such as the universe, planets, aliens, God, religious beliefs, creation stories and mythical creatures. The children were very enthusiastic about this topic and enjoyed learning about the history of space travel and discussing whether aliens really do exist. Here are photographs of the Out of This World display and our RE display about how we see God.

As part of all my enquiry displays we complete a KWLH grid as a class at the beginning of the topic. It stands for K (what we know) W (what we want to know) L (what we have learnt) and H (how we learnt about the topic - resources, skills we used etc). This gets added to as the enquiry progresses and the children can come and add a post-it note to the learnt column any time they wish. At the end of the unit we discuss how we have been learning and what skills we have used - such as researching using books or laptops, using ICT to record our learning or discussion with our peers.

How we see God display - I was amazed at the variety of images the children produced.

 

 

Handwriting Display

To motivate the children to improve their handwriting we introduced pen licences. The children had to use joined up fluent handwriting to be awarded a pen and certificate. The children could use their pen for whatever written work they liked (usually not maths) but could only keep the licence if they continued to use joined up neat and fluent handwriting across all curriculum subjects. The children felt very proud to earn the licence and badges were given out for the children to wear around the school if they wished. Photographs of the children who were awarded the pen licences were put on the handwriting display along with their certificates.  Examples of children's work which met the criteria for the pen licence was displayed on the board for the children to see what they were working towards. This had a marked impact on the children's handwriting and this reward system has now been implemented throughout school from Years 2 - 6.

Science Displays - Life Cycles and Habitats

A common Science topic in Year 5 - Life Cycles. As part of this topic we focused on the life cycle of a plant and life cycles of animals. On the display you will see a life cycle of a plant and photographs of different plants and trees that we studied. On a Science display I always include key vocabulary for the children to use in their work and also key questions to get the children thinking about the topic. Books and a plant were situated in front of the display for children to look at. As part of the topic we planted seeds in classroom and studied how they grew in different conditions - some were left on display for the children to observe their growth.

 

 

Habitats science display - with a focus on life processes.

 



Targets Display - Reading, Writing and Maths

All schools and classes have particular targets to work towards. As a teacher there is a lot of pressure to ensure the children in your class know their personal targets and how they can achieve them. I came up with a 'rocket' themed target display/concept to help the children remember their target. Lower ability children were on 'Ready' targets, middle ability children were on 'Steady' targets, higher ability children were on 'Go' targets and gifted and talented children were on 'Blast off!' targets. The children could remember which stage of the rocket taking off they were and as their targets for Reading, Writing and Maths were displayed around the target rocket, the children could find their target easily. A simple concept which worked really well.

THUNK of the week!

To get the children thinking outside of the box, I introduced them to THUNKs. These are questions which have no right or wrong answer but get children thinking beyond the lateral. They are encouraged to think from different view points and use their imagination. I display a different THUNK each week in my classroom, displaying it on a Monday morning and allowing the children to write a response on a post-it note on a Friday morning. Throughout the week you can hear the children discussing the THUNK and coming up with wonderful responses. I have found that the process of getting the children to think outside the box has had an impact on their imagination and they are able now to come up with their own THUNKs for the class to discuss.

THUNKs I have used with my class:

* What would happen if all keys were made out of chocolate?
* Is a window still a window if it is painted black?
* What colour is Tuesday?
* If you read a comic in a shop, put it back and don't pay for it, is it stealing?
* Where does the sea start and the beach end?
* Can you love someone you hate?

 

 

 

To fund out more about THUNKs visit http://www.independentthinking.co.uk/Cool+Stuff/Thunks/default.aspx 

Working Walls - Literacy and Maths

As well as my enquiry (topic) displays and other wider curriculum displays I have two working walls in my classroom - Literacy and Maths. These displays are not put up at the beginning of a unit of work they evolve and develop as the children's work progresses. At the beginning of the unit they often look bare but have key features of the genre or maths unit of work the children are currently working on. Throughout the unit examples of successful work or strategies to solve questions will be displayed as reminders for the children but also as a scaffold.

The children's work is often displayed at different stages of the writing process on my Literacy working wall - from their initial ideas, to mind maps, to first drafts, to final edits and eventually a final and finished presented piece of writing. I often photocopy the children's work and highlight successful use of vocabulary, connectives, openers or punctuation. I will stick post-it notes up around the work highlighting what has been done well. Sometimes I place questions around the work for the other children to answer about how it could be improved. The children really enjoy seeing the working wall evolve during the unit and always come into my class and look straight away at what has been added since their previous lesson. The children also even suggest to me what could be put on the wall to help them.

Maths is more of an interactive display to start with. I will have number of the week up, or shape of the week and the children have to answer the questions around the number or shape using post-it notes to record their answers and ideas. This can be a quick extension activity for the children at the end of a lesson to consolidate their learning. Throughout the unit formulae or important facts or rules are displayed on the working wall as well as examples of successful work. Again this display changes throughout the topic and helps support the teaching in the classroom - I find myself displaying success criteria frequently on my Maths working wall which the children then use at the end of the lesson to assess their work.

The Aztecs Teaching Display

Another class topic enjoyed by my children. On display you can see a time line of important events and key facts about the Aztecs around the display board. Above the display are paintings by my class of the Mexican landscape. The children studied Mexico and it's history as part of this topic. In front of the display was a box of non-fiction text books all about the Aztecs for the children to use in their enquiry lessons or to look at in their free time.