Term 1, 2025-26 

Invasion

What an exciting start to the year it’s been! In African Elephants we have thrown ourselves into our new topic, ‘Invasion!’ with brilliant curiosity and enthusiasm. We’ve been uncovering the mysteries of the Anglo-Saxons; exploring who they were, why they came to Britain and how they built their kingdoms. One of our favourite moments was learning about the Sutton Hoo burial; the children were amazed to discover how much a single ship could tell us about life and beliefs over a thousand years ago!

Next term, we’ll be setting sail into the world of the Vikings; discovering how these fierce invaders changed Britain and enjoying our very own Viking Immersive Day, complete with drama and creativity.

English

This term, our classroom echoed with the sounds of battle cries and heroic tales as we explored Anglo-Saxon poetry. We read part of the legendary story Beowulf and the children had great fun acting out the fierce fight between Beowulf and the terrifying monster, Grendel. Inspired by this epic tale, the class then crafted their own heroic poems, filled with powerful verbs, vivid adjectives and expanded noun phrases.

We’ve also been polishing our presentation and cursive handwriting, making sure our fantastic ideas look as good as they sound!

Maths

In Maths, we’ve been deepening our understanding of place value in four-digit numbers. The children have impressed us with their determination to tackle tricky challenges, rounding numbers to the nearest thousand, hundred, and ten.

Our times table training is in full swing! Each week, the class take on our timed multiplication challenges with growing confidence; all part of preparing for the Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check.

Science

Our African Elephant scientists have been exploring the weird and wonderful world inside our bodies with our topic on the digestive system. We started by learning about the animal kingdom and creating food chains and webs to show how animals get their energy. Then we journeyed through the human digestive system; from munching and swallowing to how our bodies take in nutrients and get rid of waste!

Computing

In Computing, we’ve been unravelling the mysteries of the internet. We found out how networks connect across the world, what a website really is and how to check if what we read online is true or fake. The children were fascinated to learn that the internet isn’t one big cloud; it’s actually made up of cables, servers, and computers all working together!

Other News

This term, the children have loved making a splash at Larkfield Leisure Centre for their swimming lessons. Confidence in the water is growing every week!

Back at school, our PE lessons have focused on tag rugby, where the children have developed brilliant teamwork and strategic thinking. They’ve learned to communicate, move into space, and cheer one another on; just like true athletes!

It’s been a brilliant first term, full of learning, laughter and discovery. The children should be so proud of everything they’ve achieved. We can’t wait to see what adventures await us next term as we dive into the world of the Vikings!

Term 6 2024-25 

English:

This term, our English lessons have taken us on an exciting journey into the world of Roman mythology. We began by reading a myth about Jupiter and the Bee, the king of the Roman gods, which cleverly explained how bees got their stingers. This story helped us explore the key features of myth writing—such as structure, vivid language, and how myths often explain natural phenomena or share important life lessons. I enjoyed watching the children act scenes of the myth out. Their creativity and imagination was excellent, and they showed great teamwork. Building on this, the children researched a variety of Roman gods and goddesses and used their findings to plan and write their own original myths. They worked hard to develop rich descriptions, interesting characters, and engaging dialogue. After carefully editing and improving their work, they proudly published their final pieces in their best handwriting

Maths:

This term, American Eagles have been diving into a range of exciting Mathematics topics that have been challenging. We kicked things off by continuing our work on fractions. The children explored how to break whole numbers into equal parts and learned how to add and subtract simple fractions with confidence. They also tackled finding fractions of amounts, for example, calculating 2/3 of 30, which helped them understand how fractions and division are connected. Next, we turned our attention to mass. We used scales and measuring tools to learn about grams and kilograms. We’ve also started learning about capacity and volume and measuring in litres and millilitres.  We now know that 1 litre equals 1000ml. We also practised reading different scales, estimating liquid amounts, and comparing capacities with increasing accuracy. Our young Mathematicians have made fantastic progress and had a lot of fun along the way!

Science:

This term, our budding scientists have been deepening their understanding of plant nutrition, whilst also exploring the fascinating topic of light. Through hands-on activities and discussion, the children learned that light is essential for vision and discovered the wide variety of light sources around us. One highlight of this unit was investigating reflective materials with a torch. The children compared different surfaces to determine which were most effective at bouncing light. In Week 7, we celebrated Science Week with a special research project.  Our learning centred on the theme of change and adaptation. The children explored how animals gradually evolve over time to thrive in their environments, developing fascinating features that help them survive. We looked at a variety of animals, such as giraffes, camels, polar bears, aardvarks, pangolins, and anteaters and discovered how their bodies have adapted to suit the places they live. From the long neck of a giraffe that helps it reach tall trees, to the thick fur of a polar bear that keeps it warm in icy climates, the children were amazed by the clever ways animals are built for survival. This topic inspired lots of lively discussion and deep thinking as the children considered how nature changes to meet the challenges of different habitats.

In other news:

In PE lessons, we learnt more about playing tennis, cricket and teamwork. In assembly we learnt about gratitude and in class we shared a couple things that we were grateful for. In music we did so well with the recorders that we now can play a couple songs with confidence. It has been a term full of curiosity, creativity, and discovery and we couldn’t be prouder of what the children have achieved!