TOPICS/CURRICULUM

Summer Term 1

Welcome back! We do hope that you had a lovely Easter holiday.

Last term, we had a fantastic history focussed term learning about the mystery and intrigue of those who lived during the Stone Age, Ancient Egypt and the Romans. Through our enquiry question “What does it mean to be free?” we considered how people through all time periods experience different levels of freedom dependent on their place within a society.

Our other main highlight was The Wind in the Willows performance. The children spent many hours rehearsing and did an amazing job during all the performances, we’re very proud of them all.

We look forward to a brighter and warmer term (hopefully) which will be focused around our new geographical enquiry question “How would you deal with a disaster?”

Summer Term 1 Topic: - Explore - Volcanoes and Earthquakes

We will be learning:

To ask questions about the Earth
To name the layers of the Earth
To look at how the land on the Earth has changed over the years
To understand that the world is made up of tectonic plates
To explain how and why we have volcanoes
To name and label the key parts of a volcano
To be able to say where in the world we find the most dangerous volcanoes

Our project concepts this term are: fear, value, adversity and consequence.

English Learning

In English, we will be looking at the story, The Iron Man written by Ted Hughes.

We will be learning:

To respond to a text giving our thoughts and feelings about what has happened, what we like or don’t like, how we feel about the characters
How to use commas effectively when needing to add extra information
To use exciting and adventurous language to create a menu for the Iron Man
To recap on the features of a newspaper and write one linked to the story of The Iron Man

Mathematical Learning

This half term we are looking at:

Learning multiplication and division facts for the 2, 3, 4 and 5 times tables

Understanding the denominators and numerators of fractions
Understanding fractions on a number line
Recognising and finding halves, quarters and thirds
Equivalent fractions
Comparing, adding and subtracting fractions
Finding fractions of objects and sets

PSHE Learning

Our unit this half term is Economic wellbeing. We will be thinking about:

How we can pay for something
Budgeting
Understanding our feelings about money
The impact of spending
The wide range of available jobs and opportunities

French Learning

Scientific Learning

As part of our study of volcanoes and earthquakes, we will be thinking about rocks and soils and what plants need to grow. We will learn:

The three types of rocks: igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic
To study, compare and categorise rocks
To study the different properties of rocks, such as permeability or durability
We will learn about the different parts of flowering plants and be able to explain their functions
We will investigate how water is transported in plants and understand that plants make their own food from sunlight, water and carbon dioxide

We will learn about the life cycle of a flowering plant

Music Learning

We will be working through our next unit on Charanga about improvisation.

Computing Learning

We will be learning about how to plan and film a video trailer for a book. The children will be learning to use iMovie to film and edit.

PE Learning

Indoor PE – We will be focusing on shape during our gymnastic lessons. This will involve making static shapes, shapes in the air, symmetrical shapes and shapes incorporating rhythmic gymnastics apparatus. With May Day coming up, we will also be learning a year group dance.

Outdoor PE – We will be developing our existing running, jumping and throwing skills. Everyone will have the opportunity to use and develop a variety of throwing techniques, including the underarm and overarm technique to throw for best distance and accuracy. We will be learning how to do the standing long jump. We will be focusing on an effective sprint technique, while building up our technique and stamina for running longer distances.

Faith and Wonder Learning

We will be considering what Christianity is and how Christians show that they believe in God. We will look at the Big Frieze again and will think about how the big ideas of Christianity feature. We will consider the sort of world Jesus wanted and how Jesus’ disciples followed his teachings.

How can you help?

- Continuing to read regularly at home to an adult, with lots of discussion about the books.
- Supporting your child with learning their spellings, discussing the meanings of words, putting them into sentences and reviewing spellings from previous weeks.
- Lots of regular times table testing and quick maths skills following the instructions indicated on the home learning sheets. The faster the response, the better!
- All of this will be on the weekly home learning sheets.

Events/Trips planned for this half term