English and Guided Reading

In English and Guided Reading lessons this term, the children are studying the following key texts, 'There's a boy in the girl's bathroom', 'Tales from Outer Suburbia', 'The Planetarium' and 'The Highwayman'. Pupils will continue to practise writing different genres of text and apply their grammar knowledge throughout the units. They are engaging in various drama-related tasks to support their understanding and ability to reflect on the texts. Regular spelling and handwriting lessons continue to take place, with links made to each week’s spelling pattern in other lessons too.

Maths

The focus in maths this term is place value, comparing and ordering numbers, rounding numbers, addition and subtraction. Fluency, as well as reasoning and problem-solving skills, continue to be practised. We encourage children to regularly practise their times-tables at home and frequently run Times Table Rockstars tournaments between the two classes! The children are encouraged to use manipulatives to demonstrate their learning before moving on to written models.

Science

This term, our topics are forces and space. The children have been conducting experiments to test the effects of gravity, air resistance and water resistance. We have also been looking at which forces are pushes and which forces are pulls. Children will also be using their scientific skills to plan and conduct experiments to experience these forces in action.

In the second half of the Autumn term, the children will be exploring space and finding out why the earth orbits the sun, the names and features of the planets and discussing whether the Earth is flat or spherical.

History

The children are exploring the key question, 'Were the Vikings raiders, traders or settlers?'

The children will be learning about why the Vikings came to Britain and whether they are as fierce and scary as they are so often portrayed! They will be creating their own Viking saga and looking at trade routes, discussing why these were important to Vikings and their style of life.

Geography

In the second part of the Autumn term, children will be exploring 'Are deserts a good place to live?' 

They will be looking at the climate, features and uses of deserts. They will also be considering the pros and cons of living in a desert and deciding if it is somewhere they would like to live.

Art

In Art this term, we are learning about collagraphy, the process of making prints using a specially created 'printing plate' which has lots of interesting items stuck onto it. The children have also been looking at art related to space and using different materials (oil pastels, crayon, highlighter, collage) to recreate these.

DT

In DT this term, we will be learning about healthy recipes. The children create their own recipe and jar labels for spaghetti bolognese, research what nutrition is and consider how adding different ingredients will alter the taste of a recipe. The children then get to prepare and cook their recipes – practising cutting, peeling and food safety skills.

PSHE

This term in PSHE lessons, the children are looking at the topic 'My healthy self'. They will be learning about how to keep their bodies and minds healthy and what changes will happen to their bodies as they grow up.

RE

Our topic this term is 'Pilgrimages' and we are exploring the key question, 'Why do people choose to go on pilgrimages'. We are learning about different religions and why certain pilgrimages are important to them. 

Computing

In the first half term, we are looking at search engines. The children have been researching facts using different search engines and finding which ones they like best. They have also learnt that not all information online is true after researching explorers on a misleading website!

Music

In music, the children will explore Egyptian music and how symbols can represent notes. They are then moving onto the Blues and what influenced that era of music. They will have opportunities to experiment with different instruments and begin composing their own pieces of music.

French

The children are learning how to speak about themselves in French, including their birthday, age, name and where they live.

PE

In PE, the children have begun to improve their football and netball skills, before moving onto tag rugby after half term. Our PE lessons aim to build strong foundational skills for different sports while also developing understanding of the rules, so the children can begin to referee games themselves.

Enrichment opportunities

In the second half of the Autumn term, the children will be able to explore the space dome, an inflatable planetarium that engrosses them into their science topic of space.

On Friday afternoon, children have access to 30 minutes of enrichment activities, with the children getting opportunities to learn chess, STEM, first aid, cross-country running, sewing and more!