This term, Beech Class will be reading "Greek Myths" by Geraldine McCaughrean. We will be focussing on the structure of sentences, beginning with a simple sentence and then adding detail to expand it. The children will learn that when we join sentences using conjunctions, they become clauses. We will that when we join two main clauses together, these become compound sentences. They will also learn that by joining a main clause with a subordinate clause that they can create complex sentences. The children will be using a range of sentences in order to describe the characters and settings in the stories of Prometheus and Pandora. Building on this, they will then look at statements, questions and exclamations, finding out which stop mark is the most appropriate to use. They will apply this knowledge when writing a letter as Persephone to her mother. 

We will be reading the text during daily Whole Class Reading sessions, in which the children will be learning to track the text and develop their fluency by reading aloud. We will develop our comprehension by looking at the words the author uses and retrieving information from the text. The more practise the children have doing this, both at school and home, will be reflected in their progress and success. 

In Maths this term, we will be developing our knowledge of addition and subtraction within 100, practically adding and taking away tens and ones, before moving on to do this by drawing representations of numbers, and then using the formal written method. The children will first look at calculating without crossing tens, before we look deeper into exchanging and how we can represent this. The children will be expected to increasingly recognise, read and write numbers from 0 to 100 in digits and words. They will be practising to flexibly partition numbers to support their calculations, developing the understanding to count and add more tens and ones to a number. Additional practise counting amounts or singing number songs will only support this learning and strengthen success. 

Our focus in Geography this term is the United Kingdom. During this unit the children will be introduced to the names, locations and characteristics of the four countries and capital cities of the United Kingdom. They will look at the formation of the Union Jack and identify it as the flag of the United Kingdom. The children will look at physical and human features of the countries within the UK and will use maps to identify coastlines, hills, rivers, lakes, towns and cities. They will also identify seasonal and daily weather patterns in the UK. Children will use maps and atlases to locate the United Kingdom and will recognise the location of the countries within the UK.

Science this term is Season and Weather. In this unit, we will be learning to recognise and record seasonal and daily changes in the weather using special instruments. We will begin to think about how seasons are naturally cyclical and how they are caused by the tilt of the Earth as it orbits the Sun.

We will then learn that meteorologists are scientists who study and predict the weather. We will study weather forecasts and the symbols used to indicate different types of weather. We will practise being meteorologists and create a short weather report, finding out that weather forecasts help people to prepare for different kinds of weather.  We will also study clouds and find out about three different types of cloud and the weather they bring: cirrus, cumulus and stratus. 

The question we are going to examine this term in RE is: "What did Jesus teach about God in his parables?" We will study three specific parables: The Lost Sheep, The Prodigal Son and The Good Samaritan, thinking about what Jesus wanted Christians to understand about the stories and what lessons they taught Christians about God. We will explore how Christians can apply the lessons and values demonstrated in the parables to their own lives. 

This term, Beech Class will also be completing a unit of Design Technology, focussing on sewing. We will be hoping to sew and create a sock puppet using different fabrics and materials and developing our control of the sewing needle to produce neat, effective stitches.