Spring 2 

In writing, we focused on a non-fiction unit and looked at an explanation text ‘Why were the 3 little pig’s houses destroyed?’ The children explored the text and created a toolkit for explanation writing to help them independently write their own. We had fun designing a machine, which can help us with our daily lives and then wrote an explanation text to explain what the machine does and how it works. We also started our second unit, writing a quest story and we used the text ‘Nyangasa the fire python’ as our example piece. The children focused on action and next half term will begin to create a toolkit to support them with their own quest story.

In maths, our focus has been a multiplication and division unit. In this unit, the children extended their understanding of multiplication and division using a range of methods to calculate with up to 4-digit numbers, multiplying by 2-digit numbers or dividing by 1-digit numbers while dealing with exchange. The children then developed reasoning and problem solving skills while interpreting remainders.

Our next unit was fractions. The children began to develop their understanding of how to find equivalent fractions by simplifying and expanding and how equivalent fractions represent the same number differently. We will be continuing with this unit in Summer 1.

In Science, we continued with our learning about properties of materials. We also celebrated Science week, which had a connections focus, and we looked at fantastic fingerprints. We discussed what we know about fingerprints and looked at our own fingerprints using a magnifying glass. We also compared different fingerprints and identified patterns. Finally, we discussed the career option of being a Forensic scientist and their job of collecting evidence from crime scenes and taking it to a laboratory for testing. We also took part in a session with Little Laboratory. Janine taught the children about chemical reactions and the children made their own sherbet, which they thoroughly enjoyed eating. 

Geography has been a slow start due to other exciting activities organised in school. We have started to look at the enquiry question - What are the main ocean currents of the world? Due to events such as Messy Art, Picture This, World Book Day, closing for the heavy snowfall and planting the trees in our school field we have been unable to finish our geography unit. We are therefore going to continue with this next half term.

In DT, we focused on structures. We enjoyed many practical sessions completing our building bridges unit of work. The children explored ways in which pillars and beams are used to span gaps and ways in which trusses can be used to strengthen bridges. We also explored ways in which arches are used to strengthen bridges and now understand how suspension bridges are able to span long distances. We developed a criteria and designed a prototype bridge for a purpose and analysed and evaluated it.

In music, we are very lucky to have the peripatetic Mrs Daws teaching the children how to play a brass instrument. The children are learning about how to construct the instrument and this learning opportunity will continue throughout the Summer term.

Spring 1

 

In writing, we completed a Talk for Writing unit for a beat the monster story. We used the text Krak the Cobbler and focused on using description.  In our description toolkit we included precise detail, onomatopoeia, relative clauses to add extra information and looked at character reactions by writing what the character is saying, doing or thinking. 

 

We then completed a poetry unit focusing on Haiku and Kenning poems. The children enjoyed a visit to the woodland at Barker's Park to gain inspiration for their poems. After learning about the structure of the 3-line Haiku poem consisting of 5 syllables, 7 syllables and 5 syllables the children used photographs from our visit to capture a moment in time by writing their Haiku poem. We then looked at Kenning poems which are like riddles. The children had to use a noun + noun or noun + verb to describe their chosen idea. 

In maths, the children completed a multiplication and division unit. This unit developed the children’s multiplicative reasoning. We looked at understanding multiples and factors, recognising what they are and how they are found. Following this, the children learnt about prime numbers and how they are different to composite numbers. Using this they then investigated how to use factors, including prime factors, to investigate and manipulate numbers. This led on to investigating square and cube numbers, linked to their concrete understanding of the shape namesakes. Having learnt about properties of numbers, the children learnt how identifying and using inverse operations can help solve and check calculations when calculating the multiplication and division of whole numbers by 10, 100 and 1,000.  

 

Our next unit was area and perimeter. This unit provided children with numerical strategies to calculate area and perimeter of rectangles and squares. They were introduced to simple formulae such as perimeter = 2 × (length + width) and Area = length × width. Application of these methods included working inversely and using a systematic approach to find rectangles with a given perimeter or area.

 

In History, we looked at the enquiry question - what was the Kingdom of Benin and why is it important in world history? The children learnt that the Kingdom of Benin was in West Africa and was from AD900 – 1300 and the people who lived there were called Edo.  We enjoyed looking at artifacts and guessing what they were used for and made from. We discovered that archaeological evidence is more reliable that oral histories. The children worked in pairs to create a fact file about two of leaders of the Kingdom of Benin; Oba Ewuare and Oba Ozolua. We learnt that Obas were always men and were very powerful and respected in Benin. People thought they were semi-divine and could communicate with gods and spirits.  The children thoroughly enjoyed working on the laptops, using PowerPoint, to create a presentation about the guilds of Benin. Examples are metal work, textiles, farmers, potters, blacksmiths and ivory carvers.  Finally, we looked at how the Kingdom of Benin sold goods like pepper, ivory, cloth, leopard skins, beads, rubber, palm oil and precious stones to European traders and Benin bought metal from the Europeans and also traded slaves. 

In Science, we learnt about properties of materials. The children compared and grouped together everyday materials on the basis of their properties, including their hardness, solubility, transparency, conductivity (electrical and thermal), and response to magnets. The children also learnt that some materials will dissolve in liquid to form a solution and could describe how to recover a substance from a solution. They used their knowledge of solids, liquids and gases to decide how mixtures might be separated, including through filtering, sieving and evaporating. Through experiments, the children were able to demonstrate that dissolving, mixing and changes of state are reversible changes and could explain that some changes result in the formation of new materials, and that this kind of change is not usually reversible, including changes associated with burning and the action of acid on bicarbonate of soda.

In art, we focused on sculpture and developed our clay skills. We used tools to form patterns and texture and developed our experience in combining pinch, slabbing and coiling to produce our end pieces. Linked to our history, we created a Benin Bronze inspired mask. 

In Spanish, we have recapped colours and body parts and this has been taught through the creating of their own strange monsters which the children then described to a partner in Spanish. The children have worked hard to learn and recite a story in Spanish which describes a day in the life of a monster including the days of the week and different foods. We also celebrated Spanish day on the 3^rd February and the children loved learning and taking part in a Spanish dancing session. We also looked at the Spanish artist Joan Miro. Taking inspiration from Miro's use of shapes, lines and vibrant colours we created our own master pieces. 

In P.E we have been looking at dance where we have focussed on the dance styles 'freestyle' and 'urban freestyle'. As part of their routines, the children looked at what a cannon was and how to create one. The children also perfected their swagger in urban freestyle where they created a dance battle routine. 

We enjoyed a visit to Winterhill for a taster day. The children enjoyed making Harry Potter potions in science and in art the children used mixed media and different tones to create their own sunflower. In food tech, the children designed biscuits for different occasions and enjoyed using icing and decorations to make their creations.