Rowan
Welcome to the Rowan Class page. We are made up of Year 5 and 6 children. Mr Greenham is our class teacher. We are also supported by Miss Harris.
Rowan Class Parent information Autumn term 2025
Meet the teacher meeting presentation September 2025
Knowledge Organiser Marvellous Maya
Parent guidance for online maths resources
- A parent guide to times table rock stars.pdf
- Mathswhizz full parent guide.pdf
- Mathswhizz quick parent guide.pdf
- Times Table Rock Stars (TTRS) Work on multiplication and division facts like a rock star!!
- Maths Whizz This programme is used for home learning tasks, as well as use within school. Children access this site using their own username and password.
Spring Term 2026
WB 02.02.2026
This week in maths Rowan class have continued their work on decimal numbers, beginning by comparing and ordering decimals by examining the value of the tenths and hundredths columns. They then moved on to rounding decimals to the nearest tenth and hundredth, adding and subtracting within one and finally moving on to adding (and subtracting for year 6) numbers with equal numbers of decimal places.
In English, Rowan have begun examining explanation texts through the text ‘until I met Dudley’. We examined alternative explanations of how a toaster may work, then moved on to researching facts to explain how earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur for our writing next week.
In science, the children have continued their work on electricity by learning about circuit diagrams and symbols. They tested a range of diagrams by making them using components and observing anything unusual or interesting that might happen.
In other subject, the children continued their Gymnastics unit in PE with different rolls to create a short routine, in topic the children located areas globally that experience more hurricane activity and in DT the children finally cooked their Maya meals!
WB 26.01.2026
This week in maths, Rowan class have moved on to decimals. They began by representing decimal numbers up to two and three decimal places, before representing numbers with whole numbers and decimals, making links to mixed numbers. They also ordered decimal numbers by representing them on the number line.
In English the children completed writing their news reports based on ‘The Last Wild’. They edited and improved their work with a particular focus on using the passive voice, then finished off their published version.
In science, the children learned more about how electrical circuits work by creating a living circuit through drama. They then moved on to representing circuits through scientific diagrams.
In Topic, the children researched and shared information about extreme weather in UK. In RE, the children listened to and analysed some Christian hymns to see what they could discover about Christian beliefs.
WB 19.01.26
This week in Maths, Rowan have worked on dividing fractions, as well as finding fractions of amounts.
In English, the children have begun work on newspaper reports. They started by examining news reports from the past, focusing on word choice and tone. They planned out the structure of their own news story on the ‘red-eye’ virus from the last wild, and began writing their introduction.
In Topic, the children began researching extreme weather in the UK, focusing particularly on heatwaves, cold, rainfall or flooding and high winds.
This week year 6 also visited the O2 arena for the young voices concert on Thursday.
WB 12.01.26
This week in Maths, Rowan class have worked on multiplying fractions by whole numbers (eg. ½ x 5) as well as by other fractions (e.g. ½ x 1/4).
In English, Rowan have begun a new text, ‘The last wild’ by Piers Torday. The children made predictions and inferences about the first chapter, completed a role on the wall about the main character, Jeynes, and finally completing a character description.
In Science we began our new unit of work on Electricity. The children completed a quiz to recall their previous learning.
In Topic, Rowan class learnt about volcanoes and plate tectonics, tracking volcanoes on a world map to identify patterns and trends.
WB 05.01.26
This week in creative week, Rowan took part in lots of activities linked to our new topic: Extreme Earth. We began with a book blitz, reading widely about volcanoes, earthquakes, plate tectonics and weather events.
We used our English and computing skills to script, shoot and edit a short TV news story about a volcanic eruption or an earthquake. The children used iMovie to edit and present their work. They also created a mixed-media artwork using a mixture of collage and painting.
In music, the children used body percussion and percussion instruments to plan and perform a soundscape inspired by extreme Earth.
Finally, on Friday we participated in culture and diversity.
Autumn Term 2025
WB 15.12.25
In our last week of term, Rowan finished off their work on fractions by subtracting mixed numbers. We also took part in some Christmas-based maths, drawing pictures using coordinate grids and solving puzzles.
In English, we finished off our work on discursive writing and enjoyed part of ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens.
In Science, Rowan took part in our Maths in Science day alongside the other children. The children completed three experiments, focusing on how to use graphs to represent their results.
In other events, the children enjoyed a delicious Christmas dinner and a hard-earned reward day!
WB 01.12.25 and WB 08.12.25
What a busy two weeks! In these weeks, Rowan have worked hard on the topic of fractions, particularly finding equivalent fractions, adding and subtracting fractions with different denominators and adding and subtracting mixed numbers.
In English, the pupils have been reading ‘Ride the wind’ by Nicola Davies. They have spent some time discussing various dilemmas from the text, forming arguments for both sides of the debate. They then moved on to exploring the features and language of discursive writing, attempting to explore an issue without bias and using formal, technical language. They researched the upsides and downsides of the commercial fishing industry and wrote their own balanced discussion text.
In Topic, Rowan class have learned more about the human geography of Mexico, comparing and contrasting with life in the UK. They have examined maps showing various statistics for both countries, such as GDP, land use, life expectancy, level of education and major industries, identifying patterns and trends in both countries.
In PE, Rowan class have been taking part in street dance with Mr Greenham, and team building activities with Mrs Osbourne.
WB 17.11.25 and WB 24.11.25
Over these two weeks, Rowan children have taken part in Assessment week and Careers week. They all worked very hard to do their best in Reading, Spelling and Grammar test in English, and Arithmetic and Reasoning tests in Maths. We spent some time going over the completed tests to identify our next steps in our learning.
In the week beginning 24th November, we greeted a wide range of guest speakers during careers week, learning about the different roles technology can play in people's work.
WB 10.11.25
This week in Maths, Rowan have been hard at work on written methods of division. We began with short method division by one digit numbers, before spending time working on creating ready reckoners and practising long division using chunking. We then spent some time on consolidating our previous learning for the year before assessment week next week.
In English, Rowan completed their work on narrative for Rain Player. We learned about the passive and active voice, and spent some time practising reading and punctuation and grammar.
In Science, Rowan learned about how light is made up from different colours, and explored how different colours of light combine to create white light using a newton spinner.
In Topic, Rowan began to explore the geography of the Maya area by identifying the modern day countries and cities the Maya civilisation covered.
Wb 03.11.25
Welcome back! Rowan class certainly hit the ground running in Maths, where we have begun working on multiplication. We started with using mental methods, before moving on to formal written methods for column multiplication.
In English, Rowan class have planned and written an exciting alternate conclusion to the story of Rain Player. We focused on using adverbials of time to help aid cohesion, so the reader can easily understand what is happening. In Exciting writing, we wrote a non-chronological report on Jaguars, linked to Rain Player.
In Topic, Rowan researched the Maya decline (one of history’s greatest mysteries). We evaluated some of the theories around this topic, and the children chose a historical argument to defend.
In Science, the children carried out the investigations that they had planned in small groups in the previous session.
WB 20.10.25
This week in Maths, Rowan have been working hard on defining and identifying prime numbers and composite numbers, using the rules of divisibility. They then moved on to multiplying and dividing whole numbers by 10, 100 and 1000. Finally, we examined square and cube numbers.
In English, Rowan have been reading Rain Player by David Wiesniewshi. The children began by reading the first part of the story, making inferences and predictions. We touched on using the subjunctive mood and finished by using drama to help write dialogue in small groups.
This week we have also worked on computing, completing a unit on communication and collaboration. The children have discussed ways of sharing information and communicating online, how information technology sends data from one location to another and how they use agreed protocols to understand one another. We also discussed how to communicate responsibly online and how to handle inappropriate content.
Have a lovely half term break, and looking forward to seeing you all soon!
WB 13.10.25
This week in Maths, Rowan have covered finding multiples of a given number, common multiples between two (or more) numbers, finding the factors of a given number, and finally finding common factors between two numbers, touching on prime numbers and prime factors for year 6.
In English, Rowan researched and wrote instructions for playing the Maya ball sport Pok-a-tok. They also made predictions abut our new class text, Rain Player.
In Science, the children finished off their shadow puppets to demonstrate shadows, and then planned an independent investigation into light, such as which liquids light will pass through, which materials will reflect light, and will the photocopier copy reflective materials? The children will compete these experiments next week.
In Topic, the children considered how the Maya would travel long distances between city states and designed transports for merchants and nobles.
Finally, on Monday the children took part in Harvest festival celebrations at the church!
WB 06.10.2025
In Maths this week, Rowan have focused on their addition and subtraction skills. We began by going over the formal written methods for addition and subtraction, recapping on exchanging and regrouping. The children covered using the inverse operations, reasoning from known facts, and finally answering multi-step worded problems.
In English, the children wrote a pair of letters in role as Gregory from the book Gregory Cool. We contrasted Gregory’s initially negative attitude to visiting Tobago, with his positive attitude at the end of the story.
In Science this week, Rowan have learned about reflection, measuring the angle of incidence and the angle of reflection of rays of light. They used their knowledge to make periscopes. We also began to investigate shadows, measuring how the length and width of shadows changed depending on the angle of the light source.
WB 29.09.25
This week in maths, Rowan have covered the final part of place value by calculating with negative numbers. They completed an end of topic assessment before completing maths challenges using place value knowledge. We then moved on to addition using mental methods such as partitioning, rounding and adjusting, near doubles and counting on.
In English, Rowan began a unit of work about stories from other cultures, beginning with Gregory Cool. We read the story carefully and took part in different activities to understand the story better such as hot seating, annotating illustrations and examining the text for information.
In Topic, Rowan have learned about the goods the Maya considered most valuable for trade, and Maya traditional weaving. We also experimented with different weaving techniques.
WC 22.09.25
This week in Maths, Rowan have worked on rounding numbers to the nearest 10, 100 and thousand. Some pupils moved on to working on powers of ten such as hundred thousands and millions. Rowan then went onto working with negative numbers, counting across zero as well as ordering and comparing negative and positive numbers.
In English, Rowan class continued our unit on grammar by examining the parts of sentences, namely verbs and subjects. Ask your pupil the difference between verb phrases and phrasal verbs!
In topic this week, Rowan have looked at some elements of everyday life for the ancient Maya, such as the roles of men, women and children, clothing and music. The children also examined a Maya lintel stone depicting a religious ritual, and created a fact file about some of the Maya gods.
WC 15.09.25
This week in Maths, Rowan revisited their place value knowledge by comparing and ordering numbers, finding more and less than a given number, identifying and using numbers on a number line and flexibly partitioning numbers to solve problems. In English, Rowan class continued their work on Grammar and word classes by identifying ‘to be’ verbs and verb phrases, ensuring these matched the subject and the tense. We also identified action verbs, considering regular and irregular forms.
In Science, the children continued their work on light by learning how light travels in straight lines. They went on to study how light reflecting off objects is what allows us to see. In Topic the children researched and presented information on Maya temple pyramids, such as El Castillo in Chichen Itza. The children presented their knowledge creatively through labelled diagrams. Finally, this week KPA took part in school elections on Monday as part of World Day of Democracy. The children voted for their favourite candidate for the role of house captain.
WC 08.09.25
This week in English, Rowan have primarily focused on writing persuasive letters to apply for their roles of responsibility in the school. Year 6 have also completed baseline assessments in reading, spelling and grammar, while Year 5 worked on word classes by writing a shared poem. In Maths, both year groups have worked on place value and number skills, while Year 6 also completed baseline assessments in arithmetic and reasoning skills.
In Science, Rowan began a unit of work on light by sharing their previous knowledge and thinking of research questions for our new topic. In Topic, Rowan put the Maya civilisation in context by comparing what was happening at the same time in Britain. Did you know that the Maya civilisation lasted from the late stone age, until after the end of the Tudor period? The children compared aspects of culture and life in Iron age Britain with the height of the Maya civilisation, finding differences and civilisations.
WC 01.09.2025
Welcome back to the new school year. Rowan class have been diving into their new topic of ‘The Marvellous Maya’. We have completed a range of creative activities, including writing using Mayan hieroglyphs and creating a class codex; tackling the maya number system and creating numbers using natural materials; following a recipe to make maya hot chocolate and taste test it, designing and making maya masks and finally, playing a game of the Maya sport Pok-a-tok.
