Week 1

English

Our week started with a mysterious suitcase arriving in our classroom. The children looked at the different items in the case and made predictions about whom they thought the case belonged to. We found out that it belonged to Sunny the Meerkat from our new book Meerkat Mail by Emily Gravett. We then read the beginning of the book and took on the role of Sunny and his relatives to work out how the characters might be feeling.

Maths

This week, in maths, the children continued to develop their knowledge of money by solving problems involving subtracting single digit numbers and multiples of tens from two-digit numbers.

Computing - Digital Photography

This half-term in computing we are learning about digital photography. After sorting different devices into old and new, the children explored taking photos and selfies of things near and far in portrait and landscape modes.

Art - Colour mixing

This half-term in art, we are going to learn about how painters captured the Great Fire of London and their use of colours for effect. This week the children developed their knowledge of colour mixing by creating secondary and tertiary colours.

Week 2

Anti-bullying week - Power for good

This week started with odd sock day to celebrate difference. We focussed on the theme "power for good" to look at how we can be proactive to help each other feel good. We looked at different scenarios and thought about what we could do to make the situation better, using "the power of good."

PSHE

This week in PSHE, we focussed on how we can affect how others feel by the way we act when we are dealing with our own feelings. The children rehearsed and performed a short play and discussed how by making thoughtful choices they can change not only how they feel but how others feel too.

English

This week started with the children identifying and recognising features of a letter which they then used to create their own letters to help Sunny the Meerkat write a letter home about his time at Catherington.

Week 4

English

A tunnel appeared in our classroom this week which the children courageously crawled through to reveal our new writing journey book - Anthony Browne's The Tunnel. The children will be using this to create their own portal stories.

Dance

This week the children learnt the need to make their dance moves bigger when introducing the use of rhythmic ribbons. The children created their own dance movements to represent the fire and smoke from the Great Fire of London and worked together to create a choreographed dance with the ribbons.

Art

This week, the children used their knowledge of colour mixing to recreate their own versions of Lieve Verschuier's painting of The great Fire of London.

Maths

This week in maths, we have been developing our knowledge of fractions by learning about lines of symmetry and dividing shapes into halves and quarters. At the end of the week, the children looked at how fractions relate to each other by counting in fractions.

Week 5

English

This week we used the illustrations of Anthony Browne's The Tunnel to label nouns and think about appropriate adjectives, verbs, and adverbs to make complex sentences to describe Rose's journey through the forest.

History

This week we came up with questions we wanted to ask about the Great Fire of London, which was answered when we met a boatman called Bob Dickenson. He told us what happened and what it was like being in London during the Great Fire of London. We then thought about our key question – Why did the fire spread so far? We thought about the 4 main possible causes – materials of the houses, closeness of the houses, the weather and candles being used for lighting and fires. We then chose the reason that we felt was the main cause of the fire spreading so far.

Forest School

This week in forest school the children enjoyed being creative in the natural environment by making natural bird feeders, creating art portraits and their own obstacle courses.

Week 6

Science

This week, the children shared their knowledge of what they knew about materials and their properties. We learnt about natural materials that are made from animals, plants and insects and man-made resources such as plastic. The children investigated traditional clothing from around the world and identified the materials. We then learnt about how Charles Macintosh invented his waterproof coat in preparation for testing material properties.  

Maths

This week, in maths, the children developed their knowledge of place value by learning how to bridge through tens when adding and taking away.

English

This week the children planned, edited and published their own portal stories based on Anthony Browne's The Tunnel.

Father Christmas

On Friday morning, we had a lovely surprise visit from Father Christmas, who asked us whether we had been good and what we would like to get for Christmas.

Christmas Activity afternoon

On Friday afternoon, the children had a great time getting festive by completing Christmas activities as part of the Christmas afternoon activity. 

Week 7