In English, we will be continuing our work on the book “The 1,000 Year Old Boy” by Ross Welford, which is about a boy who has the secret to eternal life but has to learn how to exist in the modern world. We will continue to explore the text, both through our guided reading lessons and also our English lessons, developing both our comprehension and writing. The children will build their skills over the term to allow them to write non-chronological reports and balanced arguments, as well as some smaller narrative based pieces that cover both character and setting descriptions. This range of text types will allow the children to explore their writing skills and think about the appropriate information to include in a variety of different pieces of writing. We will be using the text to develop and improve our grammar skills by focusing on identifying imaginative vocabulary and techniques, as well as thinking about how we can construct complex sentences that create interest for the reader. We will look carefully at the use of adverbials within our writing, as well as the importance of identifying main clauses and subordinate clauses within a sentence in order to add more detail. We will explore modal verbs, persuasive verbs and conjunctions, as well as the more technical vocabulary and structural devices used in non-fiction writing. The children will think carefully about creating cohesion within their writing, and we will also be ensuring we develop our accurate use of a wide range of punctuation. 

Children will continue to participate in a weekly spelling test with the expectation that they will practice their spellings at home. These will start from the second week and will continue throughout the school year.

In Maths we will continue to embed our work on our place value skills, which will include reading, writing and comparing numbers and rounding. We will be continuing to develop our understanding of multiplication and division, addition and subtraction. We will extend this work by starting to look at fractions, particularly focusing on equivalence and simplification of given fractions. This will utilise our work on multiples and factors from last term, so it is important that the children continue to work on their multiplication tables at home. We will also be looking at how we can convert between different units of metric measure and how we can apply what we have learnt to look at money. To tie this all together, as we work through, we will be applying everything we learn to word based problems, which will help us develop our reasoning and deeper understanding of the concepts we cover.

Our Science for this term will be focused on exploring materials. We will look at the different states of matter, exploring how each of them behaves in different situations before moving on to look at reversible and irreversible changes. We will then explore how we can separate mixtures and whether this is possible for all combinations of materials. We will carry out a range of experiments to consolidate our understanding of the scientific process and how new discoveries are made and corroborated with scientific evidence.

In Geography we will delve into the exciting world of mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes. We will explore how each is made, focusing specifically on plate tectonics, seismology and the process of erosion. The children will develop their understanding of both volcanoes and earthquakes, looking at how each of these arises and also the impact they can have on communities who are affected by them. We will utilise the map skills we developed last term to locate and label where significant earthquakes and volcanoes occur, thinking about the geography that makes them more prevalent in certain areas. 

In History the children will extend their learning about the British Empire and explore the Transatlantic Slave Trade. This is a topic that can raise a lot of questions and can be quite harrowing to explore. As such, we will handle the topic material sensitively. We will start by looking at what it meant to be an enslaved person and how the rise of trade between countries within the British Empire resulted in the introduction of the trade of people. We will look at the journey enslaved people were forced to make across the Atlantic Passage, explore what life would have been like on plantations and then look at how the slave trade came to be abolished. We will pay particular attention to the role Britain played in the process of the slave trade and also the abolition of it. 

In Art we will be learning developing our understanding about styles in Art by looking specifically at Islamic art and architecture. We will focus specifically on the Alhambra and the Taj Mahal, looking at how both were put together and exploring how pattern and structural integrity were central to the creation them. Through our studies, we will develop our control and use of materials, focusing especially on drawing and sculpture techniques. We will continue to develop our use of sketch books to record observations and use them to review and revisit ideas. 

In Design Technology, we will be looking at cam mechanisms. We will investigate the everyday objects that use cam mechanisms, such as car engines, jack-in-the-box toys and sewing machines. We will think about how these mechanisms function and the job they perform in different items. After doing this, we will take this information and use it to help us investigate toys that might use a cam mechanism to help them work. We will research different products then use what we find out to help us design our own toy that is powered by a cam. Finally, we will evaluate the success of our products by testing them out on some younger children!

Finally, in RE, the children will be learning about Islam, specifically exploring how tawhid creates a sense of belonging to the Muslim community. We will think about how Islam is based on the premise that Allah is unique; he alone created the universe, he alone controls it and all that happens in it. We will look at how tawhid is central to all Muslim faith and explore some stories and sections of Qur’anic text that show this. We will then look at how tawhid is demonstrated through the daily practice of Muslims, thinking especially about the Five Pillars of Islam.