Spring 1

Welcome to Spring Term 1.

This term our topic is 'It's so cold down here!' - Antarctica. 

Our focus text for English is based upon 'Lost and Found' by Oliver Jeffers, which is set in Antarctica. 

Our Geography focus is Antarctica, and looking at the continents and temperatures around the world in relation to the equator. 

Our Science focus is weather and using instruments to measure weather. 

Our History learning is based around significant figure 'Scott of the Antarctic'.

Please click on the link for the full curriculum this term and for greater detail. 

This week the children in Elm Class received a letter from a rather hot, and sad penguin. He has told us that he has accidently landed in England whilst floating on an ice shelf. With him, he has brought a small yellow suitcase. Today, we rattled the suitcase and predicted what could be inside. We wrote a list of the items a penguin might need for a long journey. 

We have been looking at weather symbols in Science, and presenting a weather forecast, using the symbols we know. Next, we will create a weekly weather diary by drawing the symbols. We will be learning how to read a thermometer in order to record the daily temperatures.

In Geography, we have been locating the continent of Antarctica on globes, maps and in atlases. We have been reading non-fiction books to find out about the animals that live there and the sort of clothes Scientists and other people wear when visiting Antarctica. We are addressing the misconception that polar bears and penguins live in the same place, through fiction and non-fiction books. 

In Maths, we have been looking at part whole models. We have been playing lots of games to help us to see how numbers are made up from smaller numbers. We revisit this skill in our 'Make and Break'  Numbersense sessions. We are aiming for children to be able to instantly recall all number bonds of numbers to 5, and then to 10. We have discussed that the smaller the number, the fewer bonds it will have E.g The numbers bonds for 0, is just 0 + 0, but the number bonds for 5 are 5+0, 4+1, 3+2, 2+3, 1+4 and 0+5.