2021/22

Term 5

The children have been busy learning about magnificent monarchs from the past and present, coinciding with Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee celebrations. This term, Italian Ibex have been studying the topic ‘Magnificent Monarchs’. Italian Ibex have also studied the periods that these monarchs lived in and their residencies.

English

This term, we have been reading ‘The Boy Who Grew Dragons’ by Andy Shepherd in our guided reading sessions. We introduced the book and asked the children to think about what it would be like to own a pet dragon. Next term, we will look at the pros and cons of owning one! The children have also been learning about the structure of traditional fairy tales. We mainly studied the stories of ‘Cinderella’ and ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. We read different accounts of these stories. We looked at this because we wanted the children to write their own fractured fairy tales. Children changed details within the fairy tales to make them their own, writing some fantastic versions!

Maths

In Maths, we started the term by finishing our learning around fractions and consolidating what they had learnt in order to use their knowledge in different situations. Italian Ibex could use fractions in the context of shape and number. After fractions, Italian Ibex moved on to 2-D and 3-D shapes. We started by looking at lots of shapes and their differences. The children learned the language around shape so that they could explain how many vertices, edges and sides each shape has. By the end of the topic, the children were able to confidently talk about shapes and their properties.

Science

In Science this term, the children started to look at plants and how they grow in different environments and conditions. One exciting project the children completed was investigating a hydroponic plant. The children had to hypothesise whether a plant could grow without soil or not. The children were surprised at how big their plants had grown without soil. We had many ideas about what would happen, leading to an exciting scientific investigation.

Topic

In our topic, we have started looking at the different monarchs that have reigned in the United Kingdom over the last millennia. Within this, the children discussed significant people in the past. We looked at Alfred the Great, William the Conqueror, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II. By studying these significant people, we could delve into the places they lived and compare their residences and why they are vastly different. In ICT, we used laptops to complete research on different royal residencies around the country and their significance today. We also begun to plan our design and technology projects that we will start in Term 6. This includes studying the difference in castles that we can see around England, Wales and Scotland. 

Term 4

This term Italian Ibex have been studying the topic ‘Muck, Mess and Mixture’. We have been very busy with our learning which included investigating different materials, reading our topic book and creating our own concoctions. We have also had great fun exploring different artists and art mediums. It has been great to see all of the children getting fully immersed in their learning!

English

This term we have been reading ‘George’s Marvellous Medicine’ by Roald Dahl in our guided reading sessions. Children have also had full exposure to a wide variety of different texts and opportunities to use different reading skills when answering questions. In their writing, the children have been learning the features of instruction writing, letter composition and acrostic poetry. Children have really enjoyed the experiences that they had which led to imaginative ideas and the production of truly wonderful pieces of writing.

Maths

In Maths, we have explored the concepts of multiplication and division, statistics, and length. Children have been exposed to a variety of methods that could be used to solve calculations, as well as getting their log ins for times table rockstars which has further enhanced children’s ability to recall their times tables. While studying statistics children learnt about the different ways through which data can be represented and interpreted. They have also had the opportunity to collect and represent their own data. Recently, we have explored length and the ways in which we measure using centimetres and metres.

Science

In Science this term we continued and finished off our topic of habitats and the creatures that live within them. We have since moved on to looking at plants, their parts and how they spread their seeds. We have recently planted our own Cress Heads which will hopefully yield some wacky, cute creatures to show you all soon! 

Topic

In our Topic, we have been completed a variety of art and design, history and design technology. The children had many challenges mixing different marbling inks together and then transferring that onto their pieces of paper. We have also been studying the artwork of Vincent Van Gogh and landscape artist John Constable. We enjoyed attempting graffiti art inspired by Jean-Michel Basquiat, we did this by using coloured chalk on black cardboard to produce our own vibrant designs.

Term 3

This term Italian Ibex have been learning about all things messy in our creative topic ‘Muck, Mess and Mixture!’ The children have learnt about different artists as well as creating concoctions based upon the book ‘George’s Marvellous Medicine’ by Roald Dahl.

English:

This term, we have started to study ‘George’s Marvellous Medicine’ and the different items that George puts into his concoctions. The children came up with their own marvellous concoctions and decided what their potion would do. They could make their marvellous medicine perform something nice, or maybe something not so great. In addition, this term, we have revisited ‘The Colour Monster’ by Anna Llenas and looked at our own emotions. We have come up with adjectives, similes and verbs with a particular emotion that we wanted to write about. This then turned into one of the children’s big write pieces for this term.

Maths:

In Maths, the children have continued to study and master multiplication. We have looked at a range of methods to solve multiplication problems and have started to use their Times Table Rock Stars accounts to embed what they have learnt in class. We have moved on to division, which the children have picked up quickly as they could see the inverse relationship in the mathematical fact families.

Science

We finished off our topic on material - states of matter, and moved on to living things and their habitats. We first looked at what kind of habitats are around the school and where animals might live. Once we investigated this, we looked at the habitats that we would find in other parts of the world and why certain animals couldn’t live in our climate and vice versa. After this, the children designed their own habitats, making a bug hotel, which next term, we will build and place on our school grounds to observe which bugs will move in.

Topic

In our topic, we have focused on a variety of artists that have been alive or those that are still creating artwork today. Not only have we studied these artists, but we have also learnt the skills that they use to create their amazing art. We have so far looked at Vincent Van Gogh, Victoria Villasana, Jackson Pollock and Carl Warner.

The children have also been studying toys from the past and present to understand how these have changed over the years. Not only how toys are played with, but also the materials that toys used to be made with and how they are now made. The children have explored what toys their parents and their grandparents used to play with and how this differs from the toys they play with today.

Term 2

This term Italian Ibex have continued their learning about pirates. This term the adventures to be had in ‘Land Ahoy!’ took the children to the National Maritime Museum where they explored the theme further through some real-life experiences and play opportunities. They experienced pirate school and are now fully fledged members of the JPS Express Fleet II.

In English we have been working hard on putting what we have been learning into practice. We have looked at direct speech and have practiced this through writing from the point of view of a character from our book, ‘The Jolly Rodgers’. We have also created a class pirate handbook. Here the children have outlined all that is required to become and outstanding pirate. In our handbooks we have also included some true and false facts about pirates. Did you know that pirates do in fact wear eye-patches! But not for the reason you might think! Using what they have learnt in our English sessions, the children have produced some fantastic pieces of writing. We are very pleased with how all the children are progressing in their writing ability.

In maths this term we have focused mainly on addition and subtraction and the different methods we can use to add and subtract efficiently. The children are all gaining proficiency in using part-whole models, number lines and place value grids to complete calculations. Recently, we have just started looking at money. We have touched on recognising the English currency and the notes and coins that accompany it.

In Science, we have continued to look materials and their uses. We have furthered our learning this term by conducting experiments to look at the properties of materials that are bendy, stretchy, and squashy. We have also been able to understand how materials are able to stretch. We then moved on to look at how force applied to materials enables them to bounce and explore the kinds of materials that bounce the best. Finally, we began looking at how solids and liquid differ, and we did a delicious experiment exploring this by melting chocolate and allowing it to harden again.

Our topic adventures took us further afield this term as we began to study sea explorers and their place in history. We created a class timeline of some famous sea explorers and plotted the various routes that they travelled on a world map. We finally found our class treasure that has been missing since the beginning of the term. It was found during our topic day when that pesky pirate left us yet another note in our classroom. Much to our surprise, he buried the treasure right under our noses in the book corner. This just goes to show how reading truly does unlock treasures for all!

Term 1

This term Italian Ibex have been learning about pirates during our swashbuckling adventures in ‘Land Ahoy’! The children are learning about what a life of a pirate is like and how to become one.

English:

This term, we have been reading various texts linked to our topic. The children have enjoyed listening to different adventures that a variety of pirates have been on. We had an incident where the infamous Captain Jolly Roger was caught on CCTV stealing our treasure chest. He has demanded that the children become pirates to earn the right to own their treasure. This enraged the children to which some have written some very persuasive letters telling the captain their demands! We will await his response, hopefully in due course.

Maths:

In Maths, we have been studying multiplication and division. Children’s continued work in number, place value and their times tables, has enabled them to understand the concepts they have been taught to work out multiplication and division sentences. This has grown their confidence in the area, and most can work these out using different manipulatives and knowing all the number facts for a given calculation.

Science:

In Science, we have been looking at materials. We have had some great fun looking at what materials we could use to build our new school out of. We have also been looking at whether we can turn solid particles into a liquid and then back again. With this, we have also looked at how the particles change when melting chocolate with different chocolate.

Topic:

In our topic, we have studied the United Kingdom and some famous people from the UK's past. We have looked at the four countries of the UK and their capital cities, as well as some information about Maidstone. We have also looked at some of the characteristics of these countries and identified what makes them different, even though two of the three other countries border ours.

As well as this, we studied Grace Darling and how her efforts brought about the RNLI and put this young daughter of a lighthouse keeper into the history books. Even though this happened over 100 years ago, it is still relevant today, and the story fascinated the children.