YEAR 3
Where in the world would you like to live? Well, that’s a question that year 3 will be thinking about over the next few weeks as we begin our new class book. We will be reading about children who live in different countries with a big focus on retrieving information and posing questions to which we want to find answers.
New vocabulary (or new words) has been a highlight in Science. Transparent, translucent and opaque are just 3 of the new words the children have learned about during our experiments into light and shadows. They had so much fun discovering which items fitted into each category.
Topic this term is Inventors. We’ve started the week looking at some of the greatest inventions of the last 100 years. Students are honing their research skills and finding out more information about inventors and their inventions that are of interest to them.
The highlight of the week was spending time playing in the fresh snow. Football was played, caves were built and a tunnel was built around the tree. It was an absolute delight watching the children enjoying themselves.
YEAR 4
We were delighted to start Spring Term, after spending a three-week holiday with our families, at home. In English lessons, we have resumed reading our graded reading books and have started chapter 1 of ‘The Spiderwick Chronicles’, which features the adventures of the Grace children, twins Simon and Jared and their older sister Mallory, who discover a world of fairies that they never knew existed. Astonishing!
In Mathematics, we started the term, focussing on place-value. We placed 4-digit numbers on number lines; rounded 4-digit numbers to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000; and mentally added and subtracted 4-digit and 3-digit numbers. It was fun practising some of these skills, using the Active Learn Primary games ‘Cloud Clash’.
In Science, we began exploring the theme ‘States of Matter’. We discovered that all matter consists of particles, called atoms or molecules. Particles in gases vibrate and move freely at high speeds; particles in liquids vibrate, move about, and slide past each other; and particles in solids are tightly-packed, vibrate but generally do not move. Very interesting!
‘Royal Families’ is our theme in Topic lessons this term. In our unit, we learnt about William, the Conqueror. We were fascinated to discover that William’s invasion of England and his defeat of Harold Godwinson at the Battel of Hastings feature on a beautiful work of art, called the Bayeux Tapestry. Surprisingly, this tapestry was made during William’s reign, over one thousand years ago. Amazing!
This week, in Art, we discovered that Pop Art is a modern style of art, based on simple, bold images. As we are learning about kings and queens in Topic lessons, we began creating a Pop Art portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, using coloured tissue paper. So cool!
In our PSHE lesson, we watched a videoclip, titled ‘This Race Called Life’, featureing a little boy who is a talented athlete and wins many races, until, one day, a wise, old man gets him to race against a frail, old lady and a blind man. When he wins the race, the wise old man explains that he did not run the race very well; he makes him run the race again, this time, finishing with the frail, old lady and blind man. The lesson we learned from this story is whether you win or lose a race is of little importance; what’s important is how you run the race! We all need to think about how we run ‘the race of life’.
YEAR 5
I have been so pleased to see how well the children in Year 5 have settled in to the new term. While I am disappointed not to be there in person myself, it has been great to see how quickly the children have built a positive relationship with Miss Marna. We really are very fortunate to have someone of her experience and expertise with us.
In a busy first week we have learned about percentages in Maths, started a new reading book in English, explored the geography of Europe and investigated separating materials...and that's only a sample! Well done to everybody and enjoy your weekend!
Mr. Twaddle
