Term 3 

Jubilee University and Duke Awards

As part of our Jubilee University topic, Fire Safety, French Hares gained essential knowledge and skills to help them stay safe around fire. The children learned that a fire needs heat, fuel, and oxygen to burn. They also discussed which types of clothing are unsafe to wear near fire, understanding that loose fabrics can be particularly dangerous.

To put their learning into context, the children investigated where fires can be safely built and where they pose a risk. Under the guidance of Mr Manning, a qualified Forest School leader, they had the wonderful opportunity to build a small, controlled campfire in a firepit in the enclosed sports area. A highlight of the week was toasting a marshmallow, while reinforcing key safety rules, including the importance of never creating a fire without an adult present.

In addition to practical fire safety skills, the children also learned how to call the emergency services using both a home phone and a mobile, ensuring they know what to do in an emergency situation.

The children showed great enthusiasm and responsibility throughout the week, gaining valuable knowledge that will help keep them safe at home and in outdoor settings.

English

To follow-up our Fire Safety unit, we then wrote a thank-you letter to Mr Manning. We first discussed the purpose of letter writing and its role in strengthening relationships with others. We learned how to set out our letter; with the address and date at the top right, then a greeting on the left. This is followed by clear sentences to say thank you and give more details about what had been enjoyed and learned. We then finished with a repetition of our thanks, a closing line and our signature.

The letters were then written up neatly along with a decorative border and sent off to Mr Manning. The end result was very impressive! Well done, French Hares!

Topic

This term our topic has been ‘Magnificent Monarchs’. In French Hares, we have begun to learn about the impact of the monarchy on British History, starting as far back as AD 871 with the first King of the English, Alfred the Great, William the Conqueror in 1066, before moving on to learning about the feudal system and four other significant monarchs.

So far, we have learned about how some periods in history are named after the royal house of the reigning monarch, and have placed our six significant sovereigns onto a timeline of royal houses.

We have learned that the power of the monarch has fluctuated over time; some monarchs have had absolute power whereas others have given some or most of their power to an elected government.

Art

In Art we looked at how portraits of monarchs show their power and wealth, and how they were posed. We then had a go at sketching each other in various poses to show our hobbies, first using pencil and paper, then digitally on an iPad. We then used the photos we had taken of each other in our computing unit and digitally altered them to create our own royal portrait.

Term 2

French Hares have very much enjoyed their ‘Movers and Shakers’ topic and have learned a great deal about a range of significant people and why they are significant.

Topic

In our History learning, we studied some significant explorers such as Vasco de Gama and Roald Amundsen, and discussed how exploration has changed over time. We have particularly enjoyed learning about a local significant person, gentleman explorer Julius Brenchley. Recently, we have learned about some famous activists such as Martin Luther King Jr, Emmeline Pankhurst and Malala Yousafzai. The class ‘Little People, Big Dreams’ advent calendar has been extremely valuable in supporting our learning in this topic and the children often request the books at story time.  

The topic culminated in our Experience Day, where we came dressed as a significant person, and made our own Little People Big Dreams book covers.

English

We started the term writing a persuasive poster to help us learn the four sentence types; statement, command, question and exclamation. The original model text was about Emmeline Pankhurst and her campaign for votes for women. We then adapted this to write about Rosa Parks and the campaign for equal rights for all.

Our current English topic is writing a journey story about Julius Brenchley, using adjectives to describe. The model text is based on true stories of Julius’ travels. We will then create our own journey stories, with new adventures for Julius.

Maths

In Maths, we have been working on developing a secure understanding of addition and subtraction with a range of two-digit numbers.

We have continued to work on the stem sentence, “In an addition number sentence, the whole sits next to the equals sign.”

We use a ‘putting together’ action to help us remember that when we add two parts together, the whole will increase (unless one part is zero).

For subtraction we have used a ‘taking away/taking apart’ action, with the words “In a subtraction number sentence, the whole sits before the minus sign”.

These stem sentences are particularly useful when working out how to solve questions like 17 – ? = 9; we can colour code the parts in red and whole in green to help us work out what number could be missing.

We have also continued to build our maths fluency by counting in twos, threes, fives and tens and ensuring we can speedily recall number bonds to ten.

Science

We finished off our ‘Habitats’ topic and started our new ‘Human Survival’ topic. We have looked at the human life cycle and some of the processes that occur during our lives, such as birth, growth and reproduction.

We looked at the needs of humans, and ranked them according to which we thought were most important.  

P.E.

In outdoor P.E. we have been working on ball skills for football; dribbling, passing and receiving. We have learned which part of the foot we should use for each of these skills, and played many games to help us develop the skills further.

Term 1

Topic

This term, our topic focus has been ‘Movers and Shakers’; learning about historically significant people who have had a major impact on the world.

So far, we have learned about Rosa Parks, Mary Anning, Mahatma Gandhi, Christopher Columbus, Emmeline Pankhurst, Joseph Lister and Neil Armstrong, using timelines and other historical sources to find out more.

We used Dawson’s Model of Significance, which gives five statements to help us decide who was the most significant person and who had the biggest impact on the world. These are:

1. They made big changes in their lifetime
2. They made lots of people’s lives better or worse
3. They changed the way people think
4. Their ideas are still used today
5. They were a good or bad role model

English

In English, we have been studying biographies. A biography is a written history of a person’s life.

First we learned about Mahatma Gandhi and how he inspired people to protest peacefully. We used story maps and actions to support our sequencing and recall of this information. Maggie Magpie reminds us daily, “If you can say it, you can write it!”

We then innovated on this to write a biography of another famous activist; Rosa Parks. We remembered to write in the past tense, in chronological order, underline titles and subheadings and include important events in each part of her life, with dates.

We have now begun a new unit; learning to write a persuasive poster. Our model text is about Votes for Women, linked to our learning about Suffragettes.

Science

In Science, we have been investigating different animals and their habitats. We learnt that a habitat is where living things such as plants and animals live and includes some non-living things like rocks and water. The habitat provides all the things that the living things need to survive such as shelter, space, food and water.

We then tried to identify different plants and animals by studying their features and using spotter guides. This linked well to our Jubilee University weeding project where we had to identify some common weeds.

We learned how some animals are herbivores, some are carnivores and some are omnivores. We also discussed how living things depend on one another for food and made food chains. All food chains start with a producer; a plant. Producers make their own energy using the sun.

Music

We have really enjoyed our music lessons this term. During this term’s Jubilee University week we learned a song about seasons to link with the creation of a year-round bee garden. We learned the sign-language actions for each season.

Art

We have very much enjoyed colour mixing this term, learning how primary colours can be mixed in different quantities to produce a range of hues.

We then applied this knowledge to help us make our fundraising Christmas cards by painting trees in hues of green that we had mixed ourselves.

We thought carefully about how to apply the paint to show the texture of the branches.

When the paint had dried we added decorations using colouring pencils.

Term 6 - 2023/24

English

Spanish Bulls have focused on the genre of diary entries this term. We began this unit by learning our model text and exploring the layout of a diary entry. Next, we focused on the features of this genre and began to write sections of text to practice including these features. Once we were able to identify features of a diary entry, we planned and wrote one about life in present day schools.

After our visit to Kent Life, and the Victorian school experience, we returned to the genre of diary entries. This time, we used our knowledge of Victorian schools to plan and write a piece about life in Victorian schools.

Maths

Spanish Bulls have worked hard in their maths lessons this term and have covered numerous units of learning. To begin the term, we explored fractions. We used our knowledge of 2D shapes to begin to learn how to half and quarter objects. Once children were secure with this concept, we began to apply the technique of halving and quartering to a quantity of objects and given numbers.

Following on from this, we explored position and direction. We focused on key vocabulary including left, right, forwards and backwards. We completed various activities to support our understanding of this language in which children had to follow given directions to reach a target.

We continued our learning by beginning to explore the concept of time. We began this unit by securing our understanding of time words such as before and after. We discussed how to describe events using this vocabulary. Following on from this, we begin to explore our understanding of the days of the week and the months of the year.

Science

Spanish Bulls have enjoyed their science learning this term, and have been keen to develop their knowledge of plants. We began our unit on plants by revisiting our knowledge of seasonal changes, and focusing on the changes that occur in apple trees. Progressing on from this learning, we explored what plants are and labelled the basic parts of a given plant.

Once children were familiar with the vocabulary used to describe plant parts, we observed a range of plants around the school grounds and wrote written descriptions of a chosen plant. We developed our knowledge further by learning how plants grow and the different between seeds and bulbs.

Topic

Spanish Bulls have concluded their learning on the Victorian era this term. We began the term with our experience of a Victorian classroom. We were able to use this knowledge to support us in answering our key enquiry question for the unit: ‘What was like life in the past and was is it like now?’. Children used their knowledge of both time periods to describe elements of schools in Victorian and present day life. This information was then used to begin to compose aspects of school life in both time periods, with children making a decision on which era they would have preferred to attend school. Overall, this unit was very popular with all in Spanish Bulls.

PE

Spanish Bulls have finished Year 1 by developing their knowledge and understanding of the use of rackets and bats. We began the term by exploring a range of rackets and bats, and practising the skill of dribbling a ball. We developed this skill by playing a range of games in pairs and small groups to become more comfortable with the use of this equipment.

In our other PE lesson, we focused on dance this term. Our unit was focused around zoo animals. Children began by showcasing movements for big and small animals. We developed these movements across multiple lessons, exploring various aspects of animal movements. We built on this idea, and developed it into a paired performance displaying a partnership between a zookeeper and their animal.

RE

Spanish Bulls have extended their understanding of Judaism this term. They have focused on the Jewish celebration Hanukah. We began by discussing celebrations and producing a list of items need to celebrate a special event. Following on from this, we explored the story of Hanukah and the traditions of the festival. Children explored the religious tradition of lighting candles to present the oil burned, and created their own menorahs to sequence the events of the story of Hanukah.