Term 2

Maths

In maths, we have been working hard on solidifying our understanding of addition and subtraction. We have learnt that there are different methods to being able to solve a calculation, such as crossing 10s where you reach the nearest 10 first then add or subtract the rest of the number. We also learnt about counting the 10’s first and then the 1’s to help add and subtract two-digit numbers. We have used a variety of representations to help us such as number lines, dienes and counters and have built upon our understanding of place value to help us solve number problems.

English

In English, we have been expanding our learning on significant people. In particular, Julius Brenchley who we learnt about during our trip to Maidstone Museum. We first learnt a text through our talk for writing approach associating actions with pictures about Julius’ adventures around the world. We focused on understanding the structural features of our story where we noticed a repeated pattern of a build-up, a problem and a solution during Julius’ adventures. We have also expanded our grammar learning about adjectives and how they can improve our story writing. We are looking forward to innovating this and creating our own adventure stories!

Science

Our science topic this term has been ‘Human Survival’. We have studied the human life cycle and have discussed how we all start as babies and as we grow older, we develop from a child, to a teenager to an adult to elderly. We learnt about key processes that happen between these stages; birth, growth and reproduction. We have also discussed what humans might need in order to survive such as food, water, air, shelter, space, sleep and love, and which of these we think are the most important to human survival.

Computing

In computing this term, we have been exploring the benefits and uses of information technology. We have discussed what IT we might see in the wider world and in school and the use of different technologies. While discussing the uses of IT, we also have spoken about the importance of online safety and the rules we should follow when using IT.

Term 1

English:

In English, we have been reading various texts and learning about the lives of different significant people. In particular, Mahatma Gandhi and Rosa Parks.  We have been learning how to write a biography for these significant people. The children have learnt that a biography is a written recount of somebody’s life. We looked at the features we need in a biography, such as subheadings, to separate different sections of information. The children had a go at writing their own biography for Rosa Parks and all produced really excellent biographies!

Maths:

In Maths, we have been focusing on the concept of place value. We have done this by representing numbers to 100 in a variety of ways, using different manipulatives to support our understanding, for example, the use of a place value grid, base 10 equipment as well as a number square. We have concentrated on knowing how many tens and how many ones are in a number indicating their place value.

 Science:

Our Science topic this term has been ‘Habitats’ focusing on the key enquiry question ‘How do different habitats support plant and animal survival?’. We have discussed what makes a habitat and that most living things live in habitats that suit their needs. We then compared the differences between things that are living, dead and things that have never been alive, and explored our own outdoor area to see if we could find these.

Art:

Our Art focus this term has been exploring colours. We have recapped our learning about primary and secondary colours and learnt how to make, describe and use a range of hues to make different colours. We learnt that when mixing hues, we need to use a different amount of colour depending if we want a lighter or darker hue. For example, to make a darker purple we would need to add more blue then red.

Term 6 - 2023/24

English:

In English this term we have been writing diary entries. First, we read and drew a story map of our model text, a diary entry from a girl called Daisy, who was a Victorian school girl. After we had identified and picked out the features of diary entries, we began to write our own.

Our first diary entry was written from our viewpoint of a child at a modern school. We described some of the things that we might do and see at school such as sitting on the carpet, going out for break time or using the interactive whiteboard.

We then recalled what we had seen as well as our knowledge of what schools were like in Victorian times to write our own diary entry from that point of view. We wrote of experiences such as writing on slate boards with chalk, being shouted at by a teacher or being punished by the dunces cap or the cane.

Maths:

In maths, we have started to learn to tell the time with analogue clocks. We started learning about how we measure time in general such as the days of the week and the months of the year. We then learnt about o’clock times. This is when the long minute hand is pointing to the 12 on the clock face. We practised making different o’ clock times on mini clocks.

We then learnt half-past times. This is when the long minute is pointing to 6 and the short hour hand is half way between two numbers. We had a go at listening to an half past time and recreating it on our mini clocks.

History:

In history we have been learning about what schools were like in Victorian times. We have been recalling everything we have found out to write our answers to the enquiry questions “What was school like in the past and what is school like now?”. To answer we first wrote down what we have learnt about Victorian schools. We learnt that the teachers were very strict and had different punishments for the children including the cane and the dunce’s hat. Children in Victorian times had a two-hour lunch break so that they could go home and have lunch, but they didn’t have a playground, until Samuel Wilderspin came along. We then wrote about what school was like now and what we did at school, such as writing on paper with pencils and sitting in groups at tables on plastic chairs. Finally, we wrote about what school we would prefer to go to. The majority of us voted that we would like to keep things as they are!

PE:

Our topic in PE this term has been Rackets, bats and balls. During this topic, we have explored and developed our control of different bats and rackets. These have included: cricket bats, tennis rackets and hockey sticks. We used lots of different sized balls and guided them around courses and the playground. We found that it was easier to use large balls and a longer sticks. We later used our new skills to play games such as quick cricket and hockey.