Week 6

Trip to Portsmouth Gymnastic Centre

This week the children had a great time applying all of their gymnastic skills they have learnt this half term at the Portsmouth Gymnastic Centre. The children were able to show great tension and their ability to move from stretched long shapes to tuck positions on trampolines. They showed different straddle shapes when launching off a trampette and landing with bent knees on to crash mats. They also used their pivoting skills when playing moving games across the floor before trusting their ability to keep tension in their bodies when they completed a trust fall into the foam pit, which was a lot scarier than it looked!! 

RE - Remembering Vishnu - Holi

This week the children learnt about why it is import to remember Lord Vishu for Hindus and how the celebration of Holi commemorates this. To start off the children thought about how we remember different things from receiving cards, lighting candles, to wearing poppies. We then considered whether or not it was important to remember all of these things and discovered there are important / special people and times who we always need to remember which led us to learning about the Hindu story about Holika and Pralad. This story focussed on how Pralad continued to remember and worship Lord Vishnu despite facing many testing times. We then finally looked at how many Hindu show their own ways of remembering Lord Vishnu through praying and worshipping him at their own shrines at home three times a day.

English - Twisted Traditional Tales

This week the children used what they have learnt throughout the writing journey to write, edit and publish their very own twisted traditional tales based on the three little pigs and the big bad wolf and our story stimulus the three little wolves and the big bad pig. Their stories are being collated and made into a book for our book corner so they can enjoy reading each others stories.

Maths - Multiplication - arrays

This week in maths we revisited the use of arrays to help with grouping lots of different objects and counting them. The children recapped counting in 2's, 5's and 10's before looking around the school for different real life arrays and writing the multiplication sentences that they represented.

PE - Games - Ball skills

This week the children got the opportunity to show all the different skills they had learnt this half term. They were able to show the different ways of controlling, trapping and sending and receiving a ball using their hands, feet and by using a uni hock stick. The children then showcased these skills by creating their own games and playing them using each skill as part of how the game was played. 

Week 5

Maths - Geometry- 2D and 3D shapes

This week in maths the children have been developing their knowledge of identifying and recognising properties of shapes. The children sorted both 2D and 3D shapes by their own criteria focussing on number of sides and corners and the number of edges, faces and vertices. The children went on a shape scavenger hunt around the school identifying 2D and 3D shapes they found and describing the properties of the different shapes. At the end of the week also used their knowledge of fractions to identify different fractions of shapes.

PE - Gymnastics

This week in our gymnastics lesson we focussed on the straight shape and looking at different ways we can travel using this shape. The children explored creating the superman shape by using tension and straightening their arms and legs whilst laying on their stomachs. They then kept the tension and rolled on to their backs remembering to keep their feet and legs together and try to end up looking at their toes off the floor. The children then explored incorporating pivoting to twist 180 degrees and change directions whilst in a straight stretched shape using apparatus whilst developing their jumping and landing off trestles. 

DT - Healthy eating picnic

This week the children got the opportunity to apply their food tech knowledge by preparing, cutting, making and finally eating their own food. The children remembered and used the different knife skills they had learnt along with grating and peeling skills to make sandwiches and wraps, carrot and cucumber batons, fruit yoghurts and fruit smoothies. We then got out our blankets and braced the cold wind and enjoyed sharing and eating our hard work.

PE - Games - Ball control

This week we continued to develop our ball skills by focussing on controlling a ball using uni hock sticks. The children practised keeping tension in their arms and soft knees to aid them moving a ball around with control along with sending and receiving the ball to and from a partner and to and from a partner through targets. 

Week 4

English- Persuasive letters

At the start of the week the children rehearsed making their argument for or against Alexander T Wolf as persuasive as possible before performing in front of the wolf and Piggy guard courtesy of a green screen. They were clearly very effective as we received a letter from the wolf mid-week thanking us for our letters and telling us about another story that portrays wolves as sweet and innocent, our new story, The 3 little Wolves and the Big Bad pig.

Maths - Mass

This week in maths we focussed on developing our understanding of mass. The children used their knowledge of greater than and less than to compare objects and finding different items that weighed the same as 1g, 500g, and 1kg. The children then developed their estimating skills by guessing what different things weighed and then using balanced scales, accurately weighing each item to find out their mass. The children then focussed on being able to accurately read scales to find out the weight of miscellaneous items.

Music - Notes and tempo

This week the children used Chrome music lab to explore pulse notes and tempo. The children explored the different effects of changing percussion, pitch and tempo to create different compositions.

PE - Gymnastics

This week we continued to develop our straddling and landing skills to help us explore different travelling techniques. The children crawled through each others legs and a front bridge and then used benches and trestles to combine tuck jumps to travel over, across and along the benches. The children then practised using bent ankles, knees and hips to cushion a landing and the use of their arms to help them jump and land with control. 

Geography - fact finding about the Sahara Desert

This week the children had the challenge of finding out different facts about the Sahara desert. The children moved around the classroom and found out different information about the weather, animals, plants, humans, and the desert itself.

Christingle

On Thursday the children enjoyed making their own Christingles in preparation for our Christingle service. The children learnt about the symbolic parts of the Christingle, rehearsed their readings and practised their songs before going to All Saints church and lighting their Christingles in front of the rest of the school.

PE - Games

This week the children continued to develop their hand eye coordination and ball control skills by focusing on sending and receiving a ball to the side of their partner in an attempt to get it past them. The partner had to try and stop the ball by being on the balls of their feet and being ready to move and trap the ball either with their hands or feet. The children the combined dribbling and aiming to create a small dribbling and shooting games, taking it in turns to be goal keeper and shooter.

Week 3

Maths - Telling the time

This week in maths the children have been developing their knowledge of time by learning how to use the 5 times table to work out intervals of time and learning how to recognise quarter past and quarter to the hour. The children then used their knowledge to correctly sequence clocks and help problem solve.

English - Letters of Persuasion

This week the children used what they have learnt over the last couple of weeks to plan, write and edit a letter to the Pig Prison guard about their beliefs on whether or not Alexander T Wolf should be let out / or kept in jail. The children will learn how to present in a persuasive manner next week and will then present their cases which we will record for you all to see.

Computing - How music can be used

This week in computing we revisited Gustav Holst's planets by listening to "Neptune". Whilst listening to the piece the children were given a pencil and a piece of paper and asked to draw what ever the music made them think of or feel. We then explored Chrome Music lab's "Kadinsky" to see the inverse operation of how drawings can be turned into musical compositions.

Music - Texture

This week we used Sue Nicholl's song - "Spaceship to the moon" to develop our knowledge and understanding of layers and textures in musical compositions. The children very quickly learnt the lyrics and began coming up with their own actions for the song. The children then broke into groups and thought about different voice and body percussion that could be added to the song along with the actions. The children then brought it all together to create a textured performance of the song.

PE - Gymnastics - Straddle

This week with Paul, we focused on the difference between a star and a straddle position and how we can use the straddle position to help us do a variety of movements such as a jump leading into starting a cartwheel. The children got the opportunity to practise a variety of straddle movements across benches and then used their knowledge of the tuck position to show a good landing after coming off a trestle.

DT - Food combinations

This week the children got to try out different food combinations in preparation of them creating their own healthy food recipes for their picnics. The children learnt about the importance of how food looks, and smells as well as tastes. The children rated the different fruit and veg and it was clear their were some unanimous favourites as well as unanimous dislikes!!!

PE - Games - ball control

This week the children built on from last weeks ball control lesson where they used their hands, to controlling the ball with their feet. The children developed their balancing skills when trapping and turning with the ball along with using the edge of their foot to gently guide the ball in the direction needed. The children then used collaboration and teamwork to create and play their own games. 

Week 2

Computing - Pulse and rhythm - Chrome Music Lab

This week the children explored creating their own rhythm pieces. The children started off using multilink and percussion instruments to compose and play their own pieces. Once they were happy with their pieces the children used Ipads and Chrome music lab to recreate their compositions digitally.

English - Contractions and points of view

This week as part of our writing journey the children have explored features of persuasive writing and writing from a personal view point. The children discussed and shared their points of view with their friends before making their final decision as to how they felt about the wolf's account of events relating to the 3 little pigs. The children also revisited the use of an apostrophe for contractions when writing sentences about the wolf.

Maths - Adding 3 single digit numbers and addition and subtraction problem solving.

This week the children continued their learning journey of addition and subtraction by exploring adding and subtracting tens from two digit numbers and using number facts and double knowledge to help then combine 3 single digit numbers. The children then put their learning into practise by using the polya method to solve a mathematical problem.

DT - Food preparation - Cutting skills

This week the children shared their knowledge on how to stay safe when preparing and cooking food. The children learnt about 3 different cutting techniques when preparing food and using potatoes and carrots were able to safely try out these techniques practically.

Science - Helping the Gingerbread man

This week the children were faced a challenge of using their knowledge of different material properties to help protect the gingerbread man as he crosses the river. The children were given a biscuit and had to work out which materials would best be suited to float on water and keep their biscuit dry.

PE - Games

This week the children continued to develop their ball skills by controlling, trapping and changing directions with a ball using their arms and hands. The children then set up their own games of hand tennis and used hand eye coordination, tension in their hands and arms to send the ball to their opponent and see how many rallys they could make.

Happy 2025!!!

Week 1

English - The 3 little pigs

Our week started with a crime scene. The children looked at the evidence and very quickly made a connection with The 3 little pigs. The children retold the story through story maps before being introduced to our new story - "The true story of the 3 little pigs". The children then compared similarities and differences between the two stories and came up through paired discussions came up with amazing adjectives to describe the two different wolves and then use this to write a detailed character description for Alexander T Wolf.

Maths - Adding and subtracting a single digit with a double digit with and without bridging

In Maths we started the year off by reviewing addition and subtraction with and without bridging. The children found using a tens frame really useful to help them see what was needed to reach the nearest ten and then add or subtract the remainder.

Music and Computing

This half term our computing will focus on how music can be made using digital software. This week both lessons had a space theme with the children listening to Gustav Holts Planets and sharing their likes and dislikes about the different pieces and how they made them feel. In music we explored timbre by exploring different alien voices to create layers of different sounds.   

PE - Gymnastic and games

On Wednesday we were really luck to be joined by Joe from Portsmouth Gymnastics who will be working with us this half term to give us his professional expertise to help us develop our gymnastic skills. This half term we will be focussing on creating pathways by travelling in different ways. This week we looked at how we can create tension in our legs to perform a really good tuck position and how from this position we can perform bunny rabbit jumps and forward rolls.

On Friday in games, we focussed on developing our ball control using our hands and feet. The children started off moving their balls with control around a hoop before moving on to weave in and out of the hoops, developing their trapping, pivoting and controlling skills. To finish off the children were given the challenge of sending a ball to their partner through a decreasing goal for them to trap, control and send back.

Science - Insulators

This week in science we continued developing our knowledge of materials and their properties. This week the children explored how insulating works to keep things hot or cold. The children were given ice cubes and a range of different materials to wrap the ice in. The children then had to use their knowledge of the different materials and their properties to hypothesise which material they felt would act as the best insulator and why. Afterwards the children observed their ice cubes to see if they were right.