We were delighted to welcome everyone back to school after the Easter break this week and hope that you all had a restful break. We are all very excited about the term ahead and in particular, our residential trip to Caythorpe next week. We have been talking a lot about it since we returned to school and the children have been sharing their excitement and questions with us.
In English this week, the children have been detectives and have been using different sources of information to find out about a mysterious creature that has been spotted in the Eddington area over the break. They watched a video from Dr Biddulph describing what he saw when he caught a glimpse of it when he returned to school. The children used clues they found in the forest to draw conclusions about what it could be and look like. In the forest, they found all sorts of things including, feathers, an egg and footprints. Finally, they read a newspaper report, which gave information about a sighting of it in 1908. Using all this information, the children drew what they thought the creature looked like and wrote a detailed character description about it. They then gave their description to a partner who then had to use it to draw what they think the creature looked like. Based on these drawings and the feedback from their partner, the children edited and improved their character descriptions to make them even more vivid for their reader. This work will lead into our learning about myths and legends in English over the next few weeks.
In Maths this week, we have been learning about scaling and increasing or decreasing amounts by scale factors. We started the week by learning about what scaling and scale factors are. Using strips of paper, the children then used this knowledge to help them solve problems around how tall sunflowers had grown if their height had increased by a scale factor of 4. In groups, the children were given a balance scale, some numicon and a plasticine ball and worked together to find out how much the ball would weigh if it was 3 times as small. We were really impressed with the children’s thinking and reasoning and the range of strategies the children drew upon to help them solve this problem. Finally the children applied this knowledge and drew upon their multiplication and division knowledge to help them solve problems about elastic and how long a piece of elastic was if it had increased or decreased by different scale factors.
We are still working hard to learn and practise our times tables. This half term, we will be practising all the times tables and mixing them up. Please support your child to practise this (and the other times tables) at home and to use Times Tables Rock Stars to help them.
The maths sheets for this week are here: Maths Sheets Week 1
Our new topic this half term is Shadow Puppetry. Using a range of sources, we started this topic by finding out about what Shadow Puppetry is and how it works. We will be learning more about Shadow Puppetry around the world and will be working towards creating our own shadow puppets using a range of tools and skills.
Connected to our topic, our new Science focus for the half term is Light. We are looking forward to starting this next week. If you have any cardboard boxes at home that you do not need, please send them into school with your child to help us with our learning. Many thanks in advance for your help with this.
In PE this term we are doing tennis during our outdoor lessons. During our indoor sessions, we will be focusing on challenges where the children can continue to develop their balance, agility and coordination skills.
At home, the children can use the RealPE at Home log ins to support their learning.
Guided Reading
In Guided Reading, we have started a new book: Stig of the Dump by Clive King. This week, we have read Chapter 1. Please find the chapter attached here: Stig of the Dump Chapter 1
Next week:
Caythorpe Residential Monday 25th April – Wednesday 27th April
Please see the letters that have been sent home regarding this with specific details about the trip.
On Thursday 28th April, there will be a later start for the children who have attended the trip: 10:00am.
Timetable for the summer term:
Each class will have two PE sessions a week. Here is the new timetable for PE:
Monday – Thames (indoor)
Tuesday – Nile (outdoor), Amazon (indoor)
Thursday – Amazon (outdoor), Nile (indoor)
Friday – Thames (outdoor)
Please make sure your children have their PE kit in school. If your child has long hair, please ensure they have a hairband to tie it up.
It was wonderful to welcome so many of you to our Family Friday. We are looking forward to more of these events in the future.