English

Our English lessons this half term are based on the novel and film 'Eragon', written by Christopher Paolini.  This is a fantasy story of a young farm boy whose life is changed when he finds a polished, blue stone in the woods.  

We will be following our writing process to plan (using a variety of sources, model texts and WAGOLLs), build vocabulary, write a first draft, edit and improve and produce final versions to complete: a character description of the Shade and a persuasive letter to Eragon.

We also have a dedicated reading lesson each week, where the children build on their understanding of a wide range of fiction and non-fiction texts and their ability to retrieve information, make inferences using evidence from the text, summarise, learn the meaning of new vocabulary and discuss authors' uses of language.

Maths

This half-term, we are covering the following topics in maths:

• Negative Numbers
• Prime, Square & Cubed Numbers
• Regular & irregular polygons
• Co-ordinates
• Position & Direction
• Reflection, Translation and Symmetry of shapes
• 3D shapes

We also have a weekly times tables test and arithmetic lesson. 

Science

This term our Topic is Earth & Space.  We will learn the following:

• The sun, Earth & moon are approximately a spherical shape.
• Some Key events of the Space age
• There are 8 planets in the solar system
• The planets orbit the sun in the order: MVESJSUN
• The Earth takes 24 hours to rotate on it’s own axis.
• This causes day and night when our part of the earth is facing the sun it is day.
• In summer the Earth is tilted towards the sun.
• In winter the Earth is tilted away from the sun.
• The earth takes 365.25 days to orbit the sun.
• The earth is tilted on its own axis.
• It takes the moon 27 days to orbit the Earth.
• The moon does not change shape.
• The Moon appears to change shape as only some of it is illuminated by the sun.

History

Our History Topic this half term is 'Ancient Greece'.  We will be learning the following:

• BC – refers to a time before the birth of Jesus AD – after.
• The Greek Empire is part of Greece and Turkey today.
• Democracy began in Ancient Greece
• Democracy is a fair political system where all adults vote for an elected government.
• Only Athenian males were allowed to vote in Ancient Greece.
• The Olympics started in Ancient Greece as a religious event to honour Zeus.
• Some of the evidence about the games comes from paintings, most commonly found on vases! Some events were: wrestling, chariot racing, jumping, throwing.
• Athens was a democracy; boys were educated; they wanted to expand their lands
• Sparta was ruled by 1 King; their army was strong and powerful; they did not try to invade other lands.
• The Persian Empire attacked Athens; the Athenians defeated them using a successful strategy.
• They believed that their gods and goddesses controlled everything in the world; they built temples and held festivals for them.
• Mount Olympus was where the gods held meetings and disputes were settled
• Some Gods: Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Athena, Apollo.
• The Prince of Troy fell in love with Helen, King of Sparta’s wife.
• The war went on for 10 years
• The Greeks gave the Trojans a wooden horse; soldiers hid inside it, let in the soldiers after dark and Troy was destroyed.

Art

We are exploring Ancient Greek pottery in our art lessons this half term. We will:

• create a sketch book to record our observations about Greek pottery styles, designs, patterns and shapes.
• improve our mastery of art and design techniques, including drawing, painting and sculpture with clay.
• evaluate great artists, architects and designers from Ancient Greece.

Computing

Our topic this half term is Databases, using 2Investigate on Purple Mash. The children will learn how to search for information in a database. They will enter information into a class database and create their own database using records and fields.

Music

This half term, we are using Charanga for our music lessons based on the song "Make Me Feel Your Love" recorded by Adele. We will listen and appraise the song, comparing it to the original by Bob Dylan.  We will learn to sing the song, play along to some of the song using glockenspiels, as well as improvising and composing our own music to complement the song; using the notes C, D, E, F, G, A, B + C .

French

We will introduce the French topic called 'Body parts' Children will label a body, know the masculine and feminine words of different parts of the body. Read, translate and understand sentences about monsters. The children will be able to say if they are ill to a doctor in French.

PSHE

Our PSHE lesson are based on "Diverse Britain" and each lesson focuses on a different British Value. 

PE

On Tuesdays, we are focusing on volleyball skills with Mrs Barker and on Fridays, the children will develop their gymnastic skills with Miss Bishop.