I hope you have all had a lovely week off and are ready to be fully engaged in our learning this half term. 

We will be busy rehearsing 'Treasure Island' each week, please support your child learning the songs and their lines. 

Literacy

We have a little reading assessment for the children to do and then we will spend the rest of the week working on our independent writing.

Literacy in Maple Class: We will be diving into our new text this week, 'The Boy Who Biked The World - Part One, The Road to Africa.' This is an exciting chapter book about a boy with a big heart for adventures. By reading the first few chapters together this week, we will be introduced to our main character and consider what he will need to undertake this journey. We will be thinking about our new grammar objectives and which small steps we will need to take to be successful. What tools can we use to ensure we are fully engaged in our learning this week?  

Maths

All children will complete a Maths assessment this week. Alongside our assessment we will be focusing on some arithmetic and revisiting different methods we can use to help solve problems and questions.

Geography Y3: We will begin this new unit by looking at maps of the UK and finding the countries and cities. Using atlases, maps and a globe to help us, we will label a map of the UK. This will then support us as we continue our learning throughout the half term. 

Geography Y4: This week is all about familiarising ourselves with the language of north and south. We will learn new vocab Hemispheres and Equator, before we begin our research into different countries from the North and South Hemispheres. How do these countries differ? 

Geography Y5: To begin our unit on Mountain Ranges, we will simply be asking, What is a mountain? From here, we will locate the major mountain ranges using atlases and maps. 

Science

Yr 3 - Last lesson we learnt about how we move using our joints, this week we will be learning about how we move using our muscles. 

Yr 4 - We have now moved onto our 'States of Matter' unit. We have begun to learn about solids, liquids and gases. We looked at what the particles do within a solid, liquid and a gas. This week we will be thinking differently about a range of solids, liquids and gases.

Yr 5 - Last lesson we planned our investigation on water resistance so this week we will be carrying out this investigation. If you have any empty 2ltr drinks bottles please send them into school.

RE

We are going to be learning about the Hindu faith. Our big question is: How do questions about Brahman and Atman influence the way a Hindu lives?

Braham (the one Supreme Being or cosmic principle) and Atman (the true self in each human) is a bit like: God looking out through human eyes, the ultimate connection or unity behind all things. 

Hinduism has no single founder or scripture, but is continually refreshed by living gurus, whose claim to experience God, drives others to seek them out as sources of guidance. Its wide variety of beliefs and practices are confusing but some ideas are fairly consistant. 

Computing

Yr 4 - Ths term our unit of learning is 'Writing for different audiences'. We will be using Purple Mash at times. This week we will be revising how to change fonts, sizing and learning how different styles can affect the impact of the text.

Yr 5 - This term our unit is learning how to creat vector drawings. We will learn how to use differenet drawing tools to help create images. 

DT Day

With Christmas play rehearsals in full swing this half term, we have decided to not have a weekly DT lesson, but save it for the end of the term and have a DT day instead! This will mean we can fully focus our attention on the DT learning, make a mess without the pressure of cleaning away for the next lesson, and spend more time on the making process.