Emperors and Empires
w/c 6th May 2024
English
This week in English we wrote our description of the Firebird. We then carefully edited our writing to make sure that we had similes, metaphors, prepositional phrases and expanded noun phrases. Over the next few weeks we will be planning and writing a recount of our trip to Chedworth.
Maths
Last week we finished our ‘money’ topic, and moved onto learning about how to tell the time. Last Friday, we started this new topic off by learning the roman numerals which the children very much enjoyed for it fits in with our Emperors and Empires theme. This week, we have moved onto telling the time to 5 minutes and worked our way up to telling the time to the minute. We have also been looking at reading time on a digital clock, and how to differentiate between AM and PM.
Wider Curriculum
In History this week, we have been discussing the social hierarchy in ancient Rome during the Roman Empire. We got into the perspective of either the highest or lowest role in the hierarchy – emperors or slaves – to gain an understanding of how life was like for those people. The children wrote dramatic diary entries as if they were one of these roles, of their choice, depicting what their usual day might have been like.We also researched the Chedworth Roman Villa in preparation for our trip next week! The children had lots of useful questions about the trip and about the villa. We discussed an artist aspect to the Roman rule, and one we will see on our trip, which was mosaics. We recognised that mosaics were used for lots of different purposes, such as to represent Greek mythology, to tell stories about themselves, and about history. They were very excited to learn that we will be creating our very own mosaics on our trip.
In our PSHE lessons, we have been looking at how the actions and work of people around the world help and influence our lives. We discussed the meaning of fairtrade, and the children had excellent reasons why fairtrade is important. We spoke about where we get lots of our clothing, food and technology from, and they had some good estimations for which countries gave us which goods in a guessing game activity. We recognised the people who create goods for us, and how their lives are different to ours, and how we should appreciate them. We also recognised how goods reach us from all across the world.
In science this week we looked at the life cycle of a flowering plant.
In PE we have continued practicing running races for sports day. We have been working
Next week we will be heading to Chedworth on Tuesday. Children will need to wear their uniform with trainers. They will also need a bag that they can carry with their lunch box and a water bottle.
w/c 29th April
English
This week during English we looked at a new book called ‘Firebird’. We then looked at a description of the firebird from the story and identified some of the key features in the writing. We then looked closely at these features: prepositional phrases, similes, metaphors and expanded noun phrases. We then ended the week by creating a plan for our description.
Maths
In maths we have finished our money topic and completed our end of topic assessment. We have now have moved onto Roman numerals! Lots of the children are doing very well with it and are excited to continue with this next week.
Wider curriculum
In history this week we have been learning about significant people in history, specifically looking into emperors during the Roman rule, and deciding which ones we believe are significant and why. We discussed what qualifies someone as a ‘significant’ person.
We discovered just how much the Roman Empire conquered of the world and plotted these countries on a map. The children were impressed to see how much the armies had taken over.
In Science we looked leaves and their function to a plant. We found out the plants have smaller leaves at the top because those leaves get enough sun and bigger leaves at the bottom so that they can try and get more sun.
In Jigsaw this week we discussed how to stay safe online, looking particularly at how to recognise unsafe websites and apps. The children had some great ideas on what they would do if they felt unsafe online, recognising that it is important to tell a trusted adult.
In PE this week we have continued to practice our races for sports day. Chestnut class had their last swimming lesson which means that Sycamore will begin swimming next week.
w/c 22nd April
English
This week in English the children have used the features that we covered last year to plan and then write their persuasive letters. They then spent Friday’s lesson carefully publishing their letters. Each child was given a choice to have a photocopy sent home and these will be sent home next week.
Next week we will begin looking at a new story and creating a descriptive piece of writing on a new and different bird.
Maths
This week in maths we finished up our unit on fractions and completed the end of unit assessment. We then started looking at money and reminded ourselves of the values of the coins and notes. We then began to convert between pounds and pence. We will continue this unit into next week looking at adding and subtracting money.
Wider curriculum
In history this week we have looked at the everyday life of a roman, including what their homes were like, what schooling was like and what they ate. Then we looked at how Rome was founded by reading a mythological and a historical account. We finished by looking at the three different ways Rome was ruled: a Roman Kingdon, Roman Republic and a Roman Empire.
In science, we looked more carefully at the function of a stem. We completed an investigation by putting celery in food colouring and water so that we could see the xylem as it transported water up the stalk.
In PSHE we looked at how to resolve conflict. We spoke carefully about strategies and how to put these into practice.
In PE Chestnut class had there water safety swimming lesson. We thoroughly enjoyed learning how to swim in pyjamas. We also look forward to our final swimming lesson next week. Both classes have continued to work hard on their athletics skills by completing hurdle races.
w/c 15th January
It has been wonderful to welcome the children back to school this week and they have settled back into the school routines beautifully.
English
In English this week we have begun reading the story ‘Fly Eagle Fly’ by Christopher Gregorowski. This is a story of a farmer who finds an Eagle on the side of the road and trains it to be a chicken. The children are going to be writing a persuasive letter to the farmer and villagers to convince them that the eagle is actually an eagle not a chicken like it has been trained to act like. To do this, we have been focusing carefully on creating expanded noun phrase to describe, using two adverbs in a sentence, using powerful verbs and using different conjunctions.
Next week, we will begin planning and writing our persuasive letter.
Maths
This week in Maths we have been looking back at fractions again. We began the week by adding and subtracting fractions. We kept the denominators the same and only added the numerators. We have also looked at finding a fraction of a set of objects. This has involved dividing the whole number by the denominator and then multiplying the answer by the numerator to get the answer.
Next week we will continue finding a fraction of a set of objects and then we will deepen our understanding of this by answering some reasoning and problem-solving questions before completing an end of unit assessment. We will then begin a new unit on money.
Wider Curriculum
We have been working really hard on our handwriting this week. We have gone back to the basics of letter and number formation as well as the different joining techniques. The children will then receive a sparkly pencil next week when they have proved that they have formed their letters and joins correctly.
In Topic we have began our new topic of emperors and empires. We have recapped our understanding of BC and AD by creating a timeline to look at the key events we will look further into over the term. We have also created a museum in our classroom to look at all the different artefacts from the Roman era.
In art we have began our topic of Beautiful Botanicals. We looked at what botanical art is and how it is used to study fruits and flowers in greater detail. The children then sketched an observational drawing of a fruit or flower and some even had a go at using watercolours to paint these.
In PE we have begun practicing for sports day. Chestnut class looked closely at our skipping skills and had a go at a few races. While Sycamore looked at jumping in preparation for the hurdle race. Next week Chestnut class will resume our swimming lessons with our pyjama swim.
In RE we have began looking at Islam and discussed what it was like to prepare for a journey.
In PSHE we have been looking at jobs within the family and who should do them. This involved looking at stereotypes the reality can look very different!