Spring Term 2nd Half

This half-term, our Learning Journey is called ‘Life Cycles’. We launched our topic with a hands-on learning experience by Eggucation, who gave us seven very special eggs to take care of. The children have shown their curiosity by asking a range of interesting questions about the life cycles of plants and animals. They have carried out an investigation into how plants get water using simple scientific language to talk about what they have found out and communicate their ideas to each other. They have then shared this knowledge with their parents by growing a sunflower.

In maths, we have been learning about multiplication and division. The children found out that multiplication was commutative but division was not. They have enjoyed sharing their understanding through drawing pictures and arrays to solve problems. You can continue to support your child in this area of Maths bu logging onto TTRocktars to practise their quick recall of multiplication and division facts from the 2, 5 and 10 times tabes.

Our English learning has focused on writing explanation texts. We have looked at the key features of this genre, discussing how these texts are organised to help the reader to read and understand the information given e.g. through the use of flow charts, labels and subheading. Children have developed their use of conjunctions to extend and develop their ideas.

We have also enjoyed the book, “Tadpole’s Promise” by Jeanne Willis. We explored the characters feelings throughout the story and wrote in role as a character. Our grammar learning has focused on recapping the different word classes and our spelling has focused on adding suffixes: s, es, er and est.

In computing, the children have enjoyed using the ICT suite this half term with their learning focusing on programming. They have investigated and created their own algorithms to solve problems. They have inputted their instructions into a programme, tested them to see of they work and debugged where necessary.

Spring Term 1st Half

This half-term our Learning Journey is called ‘Fire and Ice’. We launched our topic with the beautiful book “The Snow Dragon” by Vivian French. The children found some dragons’ eggs in the hall which we have cared for. We have also investigated the historic event, The Great Fire of London.

English

We started this half term learning about wishing tales. We learnt the story of ‘The Snow Dragon’, looking carefully at the story structure and typical plot of a wishing tale. Children then used their knowledge of ‘The Snow Dragon’ to create their own wishing tales. Also, in English this half term, we have written descriptive poems, imagining what it might have been like to be in ‘The Great Fire of London’. We have tried to include adjectives, similes and alliteration to describe the fire. In spelling sessions we have focused on adding the suffixes -ed and -ing to root words. We have used the rhyme, “Is there a letter we need to drop? Is there a letter to double or swap?” You could help your child with their English skills by reading with them as often as possible.

Maths

As Mathematicians the children have continued to practise the application of their numeracy skills to solve problems. They have identified the inverse relationship between multiplication and division and used this to solve problems.

The children have been practising quick recall of multiplication facts from the 2, 5 and 10 times tables. They have also been practising counting in 3s and 4s.

Creative Curriculum

We have found out all about The Great Fire of London and showcased our learning through the Arts, particularly through the medium of Dance and Drama.

As part of our Design and Technology learning the children have had to design purposeful, functional, and appealing products based on their design criteria for a food product.

They have also enjoyed baking bread as part of our learning journey. They thought about the importance of hygiene when cooking and used our math’s

skills to measure and weigh ingredients carefully. They have critiqued, evaluated and tested their own and local bakers’ finished products.