W/B 13.05.2024

Maths

This week we have completed our topic on time. The children have been practicing telling the time to many intervals; o'clock, half past, quarter past, quarter to as well as all of the five minute intervals past and to the hour. We have had lots of time to practice using the clocks to allow the children to solidify their understanding. Please do continue to practice telling the time with your child at home as this is a skill they will need when they are older. 

English

This week the children have published their explanation text on "How do sunflowers grow?" They have worked really hard on these and have written amazing texts with many literary devices. 

Later in the week, we started to read a new text called "Stella and the Seagull" by Georgina Stevens and Izzy Burton. The children will be writing a formal letter to the CEO of Sainsbury's to persuade them to stop using plastic bags as it is harmful to animals when they are dropped. 

Wider Curriculum

This week in art, the children have started their final piece where the children have created clay sculptures inspired by the work of Yayoi Kusama. The children will be working on this next week too and will include both primary and secondary colours as well as including Yayoi's signature polka dots!

W/B 06.05.2024

Maths

This week we have started our new topic, time. The children have been recapping time to o'clock and half past. They have also been learning the difference between quarter past and quarter to. They are now developing their understanding of the 5 minute intervals between each number and applying their knowledge of past the hour and to the hour too.

English

This week we have continued our writing based on the story "Sam Plants a Sunflower" by Kate Petty and Axel Scheffler. The children have been working very hard on their first drafts of their explanation texts and have written fantastic paragraphs detailing how sunflowers grow. The children will next edit their work to ensure it is the best they can make it. 

Wider Curriculum

This week in art, the children have been experimenting with texture. They have small watercolour/collage pieces to experiment with the soft texture. They have also begun to work with clay where again they have tried out different textures. One piece required them to roll bubble wrap onto their clay which created a bumpy texture. The other allowed them to practice their skills of moulding clay to create spiky petals. The children will be able to draw upon these skills in their final piece of clay artwork which they will begin next week.

W/B 29.04.2024

Maths

This week we have continued our topic of measure. We have continued to focus on millilitres and litres. The children have worked hard on using the four operations (+, -, x and ÷) to help answer questions about capacity and volume.

English

This week we have started our new story called "Sam Plants a Sunflower" by Kate Petty and Axel Scheffler. Over the next two weeks, the children will be looking at explanation texts and will be writing their own about "How do sunflowers grow?". The children have learnt the difference between simple present and progressive present tense as well as how to collect information for their text. 

Wider Curriculum

This week in science, we have learnt about microhabitats and the children went outside to find out what bugs live here at school. The children using magnifying glasses to look closely at the animals and made tally charts to find out what animals we have the most of. From the data collected on the tally charts, the children created bar models to show their data and read it more clearly.

On Thursday, the children went on a walk around Didcot to further their learning and understanding about how Didcot has changed over time. The children looked at the houses from school to All Saints Church and noticed that the closer we got to the church, the older the houses got. The children were able to see how buildings have changed and compare this to their prior knowledge of the maps they looked at last week. 

W/B 22.04.2024

Maths

This week we have continued our topic of measure. We have focused on mass and looking at how we measure using grams and kilograms. We have also looked at comparing weight and ordering them from lightest to heaviest or heaviest to lightest. Finally, we finished off the week by learning about millilitres and litres.   

English

This week we have continued to plan our retells. The children have made sure to include their conjunctions, possession and expanded noun phrases. On Thursday, they edited their writing and then wrote it up in their neatest handwriting to publish their work. 

Wider Curriculum

This week in science we have been learning about habitats and why animals live there.

In art, the children have experimented with texture creating different types of artwork using tissue paper and layering to create a collage as well as printing using a patterned created by etching out patterns on polystyrene. 

W/B 15.04.2024

Maths

This week we have started our new topic of measure. We began the week by learning about the difference between centimetres (cm) and meters (m). The children also learnt how to accurately measure and draw lines using their rulers. They know that you must always start on 0cm! We then compared lengths and heights and used mathematical language like; shorter, longer and taller. Finally, we ordered objects based on their height and length from either shortest to longest or longest to shortest. 

English

 In English, the children have read the book "Leaf" by Sandra Dieckmann. The children will be writing a retell of the story and have looked at features of narratives. The children have been learning about subordinating conjunctions and how to extend their sentences. They have also learnt how to use 's to show possession and have begun to plan their stories.  

Wider Curriculum

This week we have started our new topic for the term called Didcot and Beyond. The children began the week by recapping the continents and the oceans of the world. They then used maps on the IPads to look closely at the 4 capital cities in the United Kingdom to look at their features and notice any similarities and difference to their surrounding areas.

In art, the children practiced their sketching techniques to draw flowers in our new topic, Flower Head. The children also experimented creating a variety of flower artwork using collage, playdough, printing etc. The children are really enjoying these projects so far!