English 

Elm class will begin the Spring Term reading ‘Jim, A Cautionary Tale’ by Hillaire Belloc. We will be looking at the use of language devices and humour in the poem and will be annotating and performing the text to our class.

We will then begin reading ‘The Firework Maker’s Daughter', by Phillip Pullman.  We will be paying particular attention to the author’s intent behind his vocabulary and grammar choices and how the author shows dialogue between the characters. The children will begin by writing a biography about Phillip Pullman, using a range of compound and complex sentences and recapping how the conjunction used can change the meaning of the sentence. We will also look at the different uses of apostrophes for possession and contractions, ensuring that we are using the correct grammar in our formal, biography text. 

We will then spend some time planning and writing instructions linked to our core text. We will learn how to use prepositions and prepositional language to ensure that our instructions are clear. We will also look at imperative verbs and how they are different to other verbs. Finally, we will use role-play to follow our instructions and check that they are clear. 

Maths 

The children will develop their mathematical understanding through a range of topics, building confidence in problem-solving and reasoning. 

We have begun to explore multiplication and division last term, and we will continue with this topic in the Spring Term. Our focus this term, will be recognising factor pairs, recognising and understanding the rules for multiplying and dividing by 10 and 100, and finally, learning how to solve scaling and reasoning problems. 

Later in the term, we will begin to learn about length and perimeter. We will learn to measure in kilometres, metres, centimetres and millimetres, solving reasoning problems linked to our new knowledge and applying it to real-world problems. 

Science 

In Science, Elm will be learning about Ecology. As part of this unit, we will consider different habitats around the world. We will then look at food chains, life cycles and food webs. We will also consider the impact of humans on the world around us, and how we can reduce pollution. Finally, we will consider ecology and ecosystems in our local area, and we will investigate ideas about how to protect the wildlife in Weeting. We will use our knowledge to create posters to encourage our community to act responsibly. 

History 

This term, we will be finishing our Ancient Greece topic and then beginning our study of the Roman Empire.  We have arranged for us to be visited by a Roman soldier in school to start our new topic, which is very exciting! 

We will be learning that the Ancient Roman civilisation was based in modern day Italy, and included the entire Mediterranean, France, most of Britain and parts of the Middle East. We will discover that the Roman Republic was controlled by a group of several hundred wealthy, powerful men, called senators. From these senators, two consuls were elected each year, which is like a modern presiden,t and the rest of Roman society was split into landowners, working Romans and slaves, who were not Roman. We will also consider how the Romans spent their leisure time and how Roman culture has influenced our lives today. 

Art 

In Art, we will be investigating design. We will learn that the generally recognised elements of art include line, shape, form, space, light, texture, and colour. Design, or composition means how these elements, or ingredients in the work of art work together to make a coherent whole. We will look at Matisse’s cut-outs, including how they were designed and compiled. We will then look at the expressionism movement, including Munch’s ‘The Scream’, recreating our own version of this as our final piece. 

RE 

Our RE learning this term is titled ‘What is a good life?’ and is centred around Humanist beliefs. We will apply our understanding of the concept of duty to the ways in which religious and non-religious people try to live a good life. We will draw on questions and methods from the human or social sciences, theology and philosophy. As part of our studies we will explore the life of James Baldwin, who was an important African American writer and Civil Rights activist.