Welcome to the Summer Term!

We can't wait to continue sharing our learning with you.

Our trip to Snipedales

We have had an amazing trip to Snipedales this term!

It was a great chance for us to retrieve our knowledge of rivers as we identified many of the key features as we walked around with our leader, Vicki. We were very excited when we were given the opportunity to actually get in the river to conduct an investigation of what lives in the river. We had to use our classification keys, which we have been exploring in our Computing lessons, to identify the name of the living thing. We then tested the flow of the river using a very scientific piece of equipment known as…. a dog biscuit! We had an amazing day, walked for miles and demonstrated our learning perfectly!

Well-being Wednesday

Every Wednesday, we take time out of our day to do an activity that is good for our wellbeing. This can be mindfulness colouring, a dance break or just some quiet reflection. 
 

In this weeks well-being activity, we went outside and had some reflection time about what makes us unique and why we are important to our family, school and the community. 

History- Why was trade important to the Ancient Egyptians?

In History, we begin to explore Ancient Egypt with a focus on trade and why it was so important for them. We begin by establishing what a civilisation is and how evidence found proves that Ancient Egypt was. As we begin to explore trade, we are able to make comparisons with other times in History and the importance of it.

Science- Living Things and their Habitats

Are some animals more alike than others?

This term we are able to apply lots of prior learning from Science as we begin to classify different animals. We began by identifying the six main groups of animals and what they have in common. This is a great way of sorting animals into different groups and classifying them.

RE- Pilgrimage- How do pilgrimages fulfil religious duty?

This term we learn all about Pilgrimage for different faiths and those of no faith. We begin by identifying places that are special to us and the significance they hold. We will then learn about Jerusalem as a place of pilgrimage for different faiths. Rev Jane will visit school and share with us some information about her pilgrimage to Lindisfarne and the significance it holds for her. To end this half term, we will visit Walsingham and take part in our own Pilgrimage. 

This term provides great opportunities for retrieval of prior learning as we have learnt about the importance of Hajj for the Muslim community and how Lindisfarne was significant in Viking Britain.

We welcomed Reverend Jane into our lesson today so she could share with us her experiences of pilgrimages. Reverend Jane has been on a number of pilgrimages and she shared how magical they were and what they represented. She explained what she had to take with her, what she had to do and what happened after. Finally, Reverend Jane shared with us our pilgrimage to Walsingham and what we could expect. 

PSHE-Living in the Wider World

Is your freedom of choice controlled online?

This term our PSHE will focus around belonging to a community and what makes a community. We began by learning about the different groups we belong to and how it feels to be part of a community. We read the story of Beegu and identified how she began to feel welcomed and who it was that accepted her.

In our 2nd lesson, we began to explore the theme of community. By discussing what a community is, we decided that it was a group of people who lived together with shared values and agreed rules. In groups, we created our own communities, thinking of everyone that needed to be in them to meet the needs of everyone who was a part of that community. 

French- Quel temps fait il?

This term we will begin to talk about the weather in French. 

PE

Swimming- Why is coordination important to swimming?

Athletics-Why is fitness important in athletics?

The Summer Term is the perfect time to work on our fitness outside as we learn new skills for athletics.

We have begun by working on our stamina for running, identifying a good running style.

In our first athletic lesson, we focused on stamina and pace. We discussed what these words mean and now understand that pace allows you to pick a speed that will allow you to develop your stamina so you can run for longer periods of times. We worked really hard to match each others speeds before moving onto passing through gates where we could only pass the beanbag through the gate if we were both there at the same time. We finished the session with a 4 minute run where we had to set a 

pace that would allow us to develop our stamina so we didn’t have to stop during the 4 minutes. 
 

In week 3, we focused on jumping for distance. We spoke about what it takes to jump safely by bending our knees when we take off and land and using our arms in the air to push us through the air. We started off by jumping over skipping ropes to demonstrate jumping safely before we set ourselves a challenge of jumping our equivalent height. 

Music- Ukulele

Do major and minor chords change the mood of a song?

We are going to be applying our Ukulele knowledge into creating our own compositions using notes and bars. We will be looking at note values and learning how to read notes on a trebel clef stave. 

Computing- How are databases useful?

In Computing, we will be looking at how databases can answer a series of questions through yes and no questions to establish the answer. We will be looking at how they make classification keys and how these databases are used in the wider world.

In Computing, we have been using a programme that allowed us to create a branching database using yes or no questions to help us find the object we were thinking of? We had to think carefully about the attributes we were describing and how they may differ to our other selections to separate the objects by questions that have yes or no answers. 

Art- How are architecture and sculpture similar?

Studying the work of Hermann Finsterlin, we will know some of the key features of his architecture and use his sketchbook work as a stimulus for our own ideas. Applying some of his ideas we will create our own small sculptures based on our architectural ideas.

English- Writing to Entertain

To begin this term we will write a short story to share with pupils in keystage one. After reading humorous stories, we will identify ways authors create humour and apply some of these ideas to our own writing.

We began our unit of looking at humorous stories by investigating funny texts and identifying what actually made them funny. We specifically enjoyed the mention of bodily functions, the description of the characters and the repetition. We will then use these features and apply to our own writing. 

Guided Reading

In Week 2, one of our guided reading activities was to perform a small play using directions from a play script. We had to take note of the stage directions and director notes so that we could portray the emotions intended. 

In Week 3, our focus shifted onto looking at a non-fiction book that looked at unsolved mysteries. We looked at the case reports and evidence linked to sightings of Big Foot which we really gave us lots of in depth conversations on whether Big Foot is real or not.